Malnutrition in India
What goals have been established for the fight against malnutrition?
- intends to lower the prevalence of stunting and underweight among children under the age of six by 2% annually.
- aims to reduce anaemia in women, adolescent girls (15–49 years old), and children between the ages of 6 and 59 months by 3% annually. It also aims to reduce low birth weight by 2% annually.
- Anaemia is a condition when there are not enough healthy red blood cells present in the blood.
Highlighted the NFHS-5 Report, which contains in-depth data on vital population domains like:
- Infertility, family planning, newborn and child mortality, maternal and child health, nutrition and anaemia, morbidity and healthcare, women’s empowerment, and many more concerns fall under the category of health and family welfare.
What findings came from the NFHS-5?
- The highest rate of stunted children (46.5%) is in Meghalaya, followed by Bihar (42.9%).
- Gujarat has the second-highest percentage of wasted children (weight for height) behind Maharashtra (25.6%), at 25.1%.
- In Jharkhand, 26% of females between the ages of 15 and 49 have a body mass index that is unusually low (BMI).
Other discoveries:
- Between NFHS-4 and 5, the national Total Fertility Rate (TFR), which measures the average number of children per woman, fell from 2.2 to 2.0.
- From 54% to 67%, the nation’s overall contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) increased significantly.
- In India, the institutional birth rate rose dramatically from 79% to 89%.
- The prevalence of stunting decreased from 38.4% to 35.5%, wasting from 21.0% to 19.3%, and underweight people were more common in 32.1% as opposed to 35.8%.
- BMI-below-normal females (15–49 years old) decreased from 22.9% in NFHS-4 to 18.7% in NFHS-5.
What Are the Initiatives to Fight Malnutrition?
About:
- When the body lacks the vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients necessary to maintain healthy tissues and organ function, malnutrition begins to take hold.
- People who are either overfed or underfed develop malnutrition.
Initiatives:
- The National Nutrition Mission (NNM), sometimes referred to as POSHAN Abhiyaan, was established by the Indian government with the goal of creating a “Malnutrition Free India” by the year 2022.
- The 2018-launched Anemia Mukt Bharat Abhiyan seeks to quadruple the annual percentage decline in anaemia from one to three percentage points.
- The Mid-day Meal (MDM) programme works to enhance children’s nutritional status, which directly and favourably affects enrollment, retention, and attendance.
- Through its linked schemes and programmes, the 2013 National Food Security Act seeks to provide food and nutrition security for those who are most vulnerable.
- The Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana allows pregnant women to benefit from enhanced delivery facilities by receiving a direct payment of Rs. 6,000 into their bank accounts (PMMVY).
- The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Program was started in 1975 with the goal of giving women and children under the age of six access to food, preschool education, primary healthcare, immunisation, health checks, and referral services.
Way Forward
Financial Commitments Should Rise:
- To ensure their continued development and increased quality of life, there is a greater need to enhance investment in women’s and children’s health and nutrition.
Outcome-focused strategy:
- The results of nutrition programmes must be considered when designing them in India.
- In order to guarantee the last-mile delivery of essential nutrition services and treatments, direct communication with nutritionally vulnerable groups is required (such as the elderly, pregnant women, people with special needs, and young children).
- There is a clear correlation between mothers’ educational level and their children’s ability to obtain and adherence to nutritional therapy, according to a number of studies.
- Health and nutrition are crucial to offer the youthful population a competitive advantage.
Monitoring and evaluation of the programme:
- Programs should be monitored and evaluated, and both systemic and local flaws should be addressed.
- The nutritional status of each state must be evaluated, sensible policy choices must be carefully considered, and programme implementation must be closely watched.
