Status Of Nutrition In India As We Observe September As Nutrition Month

On Sunday, addressing the 80th episode of ‘Mann Ki Baat’ radio programme, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that September will be observed as 'Nutrition Month'. While speaking about the significance of following a nutritious diet he said, "for our children and our students to display their optimum potential, show their mettle; nutrition and proper nourishment play a very big role.” 

Talking about the proverb - 'Yatha Annam Tatha Mannam', he said that mental and intellectual development is directly related to the quality of our food intake. He emphasized on the need of increasing enough awareness of nutrition.

This was not the first time that Prime Minister has spoken about the importance of nutrition. In 2017, he had insisted to train prospective mothers on food habits and a healthy lifestyle. He had mandated the union ministry of health and the union ministry of women and child development (WCD) to work on these areas and that an online certificate course in various regional language to be developed on dietary habits and other areas of lifestyle for prospective mothers, to improve children's nutrition. 

Malnutrition is more common in large families in rural areas and low-income families with uneducated or unskilled parents. With changes in diet and physical activity levels, overweight and obesity have also become emerging problems, especially among urban residents and wealthier families. Consumption of high-fat and high-sugar processed foods is increasing, and teenagers and adults are becoming more and more sedentary. Overweight and obesity in adolescent girls are related to obesity in adult women, which can increase the risk of diabetes, hypertension and overweight and obesity in children.

The Lancet study on Child and Adolescent Health, predicted the prevalence of malnutrition indicators in Indian states by 2030 based on the trends from 1990 to 2017, in comparison with India’s National Nutrition Mission (NNM) 2022 and WHO and UNICEF’s 2030 targets. It said,  “Existing evidence suggests that India, with a population of 1.4 billion people residing across states at varying levels of health transition, has a large and persistent burden of malnutrition, especially among children and women of reproductive age.”

The study stated, malnutrition is the main risk factor for the death of children under 5 years of age in the states of India in 2017, accounting for 68.2 per cent of the total number of deaths among children under the age of five. The proportion of deaths of children under five years of age caused by malnutrition only changed slightly from 70.4 per cent in 1990 to 68.2 per cent in 2017.

Whereas according to Observer Research Foundation’s report on 'Towards a malnutrition-free India: Best practices and innovations from POSHAN Abhiyaan', compared to the late 1980s (66.2 per cent), the proportion of children with stunting in India (38.4 per cent) has almost halved. The proportion of children under five who are stunted has dropped from 48 per cent a decade ago to 38.4 per cent. Except for Pondicherry, Delhi, Kerala and Lakshadweep, all other states have higher rates of stunted children in rural areas than in urban areas. At the same time, in the past ten years, the proportion of children under five years of age who was wasting increased from 19.8 per cent in 2005-06 to 21 per cent in 2015-16.

According to the National Nutrition Survey conducted in 2019, compared with rural children and adolescents (29 per cent), children and adolescents living in urban areas have a higher prevalence of iron deficiency (40.6 per cent). With 19 per cent urban areas have higher deficiency of Vitamin D observed compared to rural areas (12 per cent). This is even when 74 per cent of children living in cities consume dairy products as compared to 58 per cent in rural areas. The report mentioned that  rural areas witnesses a higher prevalence of stunting (37 per cent) versus 27 per cent in urban areas.

Malnutrition is also significantly prevalent in tribal areas of India. Since independence, many government policies have tried to develop tribal communities by focusing on their livelihoods, education and health but even today, indigenous people are the most malnourished part of Indian society.

As reported by UNICEF,  “data reveals that 4.7 million tribal children of India suffer from chronic nutrition deprivation affecting their survival, growth, learning, performance in school and productivity as adults (Nutrition India Info). About 80 per cent of the 5 million chronically undernourished tribal children live in just eight states of Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Odisha.”

Steps taken by Indian Government since 2014

POSHAN (Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition) Abhiyaan or National Nutrition Mission, Indian government’s flagship programme to enhance nutritional outcomes for children, pregnant women and lactating mothers. It was launched by the Prime Minister on the occasion of the International Women’s Day on 8th March, 2018 from Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan. It directed the mission mode with an aim to bring the attention of the country on the problem of malnutrition.

The government announced POSHAN Mission 2.0 to alleviate malnutrition and to strengthen nutrient content, coverage and with a focus on developing practices that develop health, wellness and immunity. Measures have been taken to improve nutritional quality and accredited laboratory testing.

The government has advised the states/UT to guarantee the quality of supplemental nutrition that meets the standards specified in the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006. The states/UT have been recommended to promote the use of the AYUSH system to prevent malnutrition and other diseases related to it. Government has also implemented Anganwadi services, scheme for adolescent girls under the Integrated Child Development Services Scheme and Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana to address the problem of malnutrition in the country.