(Daily News Scan - DNS English) Malnutrition in India
Important Points:
In INDIA out of every 3 children of the age of 5, one will be stunted by 2022.According to the current trend analyzed by India’s food and nutrition security; reports have been stating that 31.4% Indian children will be stunted which means they will not be able to grow and develop properly. Child stunting can be understood as the underdevelopment of children due to lack of nutrition, poor health and repeated infections.
As per the reports, India is the slowest among the developing economies in reducing the child stunting. Child stunting is measured as chronic malnutrition. This is a condition that emerges when a child does not get the balanced nutrients required for the growth in the first 1000 days. Stunting can permanently reduce a child’s growth physically and mentally.
India has a large number of malnourished children and in the years to come it will only increase. Malnutrition is an issue for India. Most of the Indian population lives in poverty and are unable to obtain proper food for them. As per the data 44% of children under the age of 5 are underweight and approximately 72% of children have anemia. Women suffering from anemia and malnutrition are unable to deliver healthy babies. Children and individuals having nutrient deficiencies are more prone to have infectious diseases such as pneumonia and tuberculosis. Some of the causes of malnutrition are- changing diets, deficiencies of vitamins and minerals like iron and calcium, lack of medical facilities and trained medical personnel and lack of proper medicines.
In 2017, Global Hunger Index report ranked India 100th out of 118 countries showing serious hunger situation. Whereas 2018’s report shows India’s ranking to be 103rd out of 119 countries with a serious issue of child wasting. The term wasting can be understood as low weight for height and it is a predictor of mortality among children.
The second Sustainable Development Goal to end hunger prepared by the UN World Food Program in collaboration with Ministry Of Statistics and Programme Implementation has given the reports for increase in malnutrition in India by 2022. According to SDG around 815 million people across the globe are undernourished with majority of them living in developing countries. The facts presented by SDG tell that ASIA is the continent with hungriest people.
SDG has set some targets to resolve and overcome the barriers of hunger and poverty issues. By 2030 it has aimed to end hunger including all forms of malnutrition, ensuring sustainable food production system and doubling the agriculture productivity with increase in income of small scale food producers. By 2020 it wants to maintain the genetic diversity of seeds, cultivated plants and domesticated animals and related wild species. Adopting measures to ensure proper functioning of food markets and facilitate timely access to market information.
In India stunting is a serious concern caused due to inadequate facilities. If proper facilities are provided individuals can grow properly. Lack of food, sanitation facilities and water are the factors behind this. India is working actively towards achieving the goal of zero hunger. The Indian government is working on a 3 year Action Agenda from 2017-2020. Along with that work is in progress to eliminate poverty, gender equality and resource mobilization. For fulfilling the agenda of SDG Indian government has launched programmes to ensure enhancement in food security through all India public distribution system, mid day meal scheme, integrated child development scheme and National children’s fund. The government has taken initiatives for the digitization of agricultural marketing wherein the National Agricultural Marketing platform covers 250 mandis across country. The National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture is implementing climate change adaptation strategies for sustaining agricultural productivity. To tackle health issues government is trying to provide vaccines against polio, tetanus, measles etc. The government has also ensured to give a health insurance cover to the families of below poverty line. The government has given a provision of rs 9000 crore to tackle the issue of malnutrition.
The government schemes and policies will help in overcoming the issues of food and health care which will result in lowering the rate of child stunting.
