By ASIT JOLLY

Chandigarh, Nov. 18: More than half of Chandigarh's school-going children have been found to be seriously undernourished after a recently concluded child health survey undertaken by the administration.

The distressing statistics, which doctors say are being driven by rising levels of junk food and packaged snack food consumption, are based on a comprehensive medical check up of nearly 10,000 children across 35 schools located in both urban and rural belts of the Union Territory. An alarming 56 per cent of urban children and over 62 per cent of rural school children display distinct signs of undernourishment. Anaemia has assumed almost epidemic proportions afflicting 39 per cent urban and 21 per cent rural children. And more than 50 per cent have moderate to serious problems with their teeth.

Notably, the results from the government-sponsored survey were preceded by a number of private studies which indicated that there is a disproportionately high incidence of infantile diabetes and thyroid-related ailments among Chandigarh's children

Studies conducted by the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Research and Education also showed that a tenth of the city's young children are overweight and on the brink of being classifiable as "obese". Such children show signs of early hypertension and elevated levels of cholesterol, said PGIMER's consulting dietician Sudha Khurana.