This report highlights the vulnerability of children in the Indian Sundarbans to health shocks. This is due to under-nutrition and the high prevalence of common communicable diseases. It focuses Patharpratima, as a representative block of the Sundarbans.

The study identifies a huge gap in the protection of child health rights in the Sundarbans. It argues that the key challenges to make the system more responsive to children's basic health needs are influenced by several factors working within the following five domains: Climate, Topography, Society, Livelihood and Formal health care structure. It is argued that the challenges in these domains work together and produce a strong spiraling effect to resist the development process, especially in the context of health sector initiatives. It states that the time has now come to acknowledge the uniqueness of the health care needs of this region and focus on them with special attention.