Combating Malnutrition

It’s been more than two years since Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi launched the ambitious flagship programme called Poshan Abhiyaan or National Nutrition Mission, with an aim to improve nutritional status of children, adolescent girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers. India is observing September as national nutrition month in an attempt to spread awareness on the importance of nutrition and to address the problem of malnutrition in women and children as well as ensure good health for everyone. The programme is being held via virtual platforms this year owing to the ongoing pandemic but its purpose and aim remains the same – to reduce malnutrition in the country. The main focus for this year’s month-long celebration is identification of severely acute malnourished (SAM) children and their management, and plantation of vegetables and fruits. Poverty in the country may have reduced drastically over the years but the menace of malnutrition remains, and two years into the Poshan Abhiyaan has not resulted in eradication of the problem though the crisis may have eased to a great extent.

According to UNICEF, 47 million children were suffering from wasting – a life-threatening form of malnutrition -- globally in 2019, and that the number could reach 54 million over the course of the year if urgent action was not taken. Data shows that in India alone, there are 9.3 million children below the age of five affected by severe acute malnutrition. According to the 2011 census, India is home to 97 million anaemic and undernourished children. The National Family Health Survey (2015-16) also brought to light that as many as 35.7 percent of children under the age of five in India are underweight, 38.4 percent are stunted, 21 percent are wasted and every second child is anaemic (58.4 per cent). Data says that tribal communities continue to be the most undernourished segment in the country with 4.7 million tribal children suffering from chronic nutrition deprivation. Unfortunately, the burden of malnutrition could get severe globally over the next few months instead of decreasing. UNICEF has warned in its recent report that an additional 6.7 million children under the age of five could suffer from wasting in 2020 because of the socio-economic impact caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, which means the world will see over 10,000 additional child deaths per month. This can be considered as a realistic estimation considering that the economies of many countries are in a downward trend and millions of people have lost jobs because of the ongoing health crisis.

This calls for the need to put more effort to reduce malnutrition menace across the globe. Governments across the world should immediately take pragmatic actions and ensure that people, especially children, women and adolescent girls have access to affordable healthy foods. It is also important to know that eradication of poverty may not necessarily solve malnourishment issues, though it is the primary factor, because it is also associated with excess or imbalance intake of nutrients which causes overweight and obesity. Besides availability of different varieties of food items with rich nutrients, eating a healthy and balanced diet is the key to avoiding malnutrition. Creating awareness at the grassroots level and community involvement is also vital in eradicating this menace which affects productivity, slows down economic growth and increases healthcare costs.