What is the issue?
The urgency to address poor nutrition in India especially among children, adolescent girls and women is compelling.
What is the status of under nutrition in India?
- According to the Global Nutrition Report 2016 and the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2017, India ranks at 100 out of 119 countries with a low overall score of 31.4.
- Among children less than 5 years, wasting (low weight for height), continues to be 21% in the 2017 index, it was 20% in 1992.
- There has been a reduction in stunting (height for age) from 61.9% in 1992 to 38.4% in 2017.
- Mortality among children less than 5 years old has declined to around 5% from 11% during the same period.
- However, 25% of India’s children less than 5 years old are still malnourished.
- Added to this is the fact that 190.7 million people in India sleep hungry every night.
- Over half of adolescent girls and women are anaemic.
What measures were taken in this regard?
- Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) has a network of 1.4 million Anganwadi Centres.
- It thus reaches almost 100 million beneficiaries who include pregnant and nursing mothers and children up to 6 years.
- Mid-day meals (MDM) reach almost 120 million children in schools.
- Public Distribution System (PDS) reaches over 800 million people under the National Food Security Act.
- National Nutrition Strategy (NNS) - Union government has announced this flagship program of the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
- This will be anchored through the National Nutrition Mission (NNM) and has set very ambitious targets for 2022.
- The PoshanAbhiyaan has also specified three-year targets to reduce stunting, under-nutrition and low birth weight by 2% each year, and to reduce anaemia by 3% each year.
- Additionally, NITI Aayog has worked on a National Nutrition Strategy (NNS).
- It isolated the 100 most backward districts for stunting and prioritised those for interventions.
What are the concerns with government schemes?
- Both the NNS and the NNM have recognised the criticality of working collaboratively across Ministries.
- Yet both are silent on the constructive role of private sector, development agencies and civil society.
- There are no initiatives to exploring new models to address the structural and systemic issues on a priority basis.
- In the absence of coordination with industry to create an effective supply chain, this proposed intervention will be another missed opportunity.
What are the measures to be taken?
- An overhaul of capacity and capability of 3 existing programmes such as ICDS, MDM and NNM should be the first priority.
- For purposeful action both union and state government need to have common goals and metrics for improving nutrition.
- They should come up with metrics that are clear and measurable and a real-time tracking mechanism.
- The approach, commitment and resources therefore have to be inter-generational, multi-sector, and multi-dimensional.
- Government needs to mandate and scale staple food fortification comprising edible oil, wheat, rice and dairy products, in addition to salt.
- Nutrition has to be “marketed” and made interesting, engaging, simple and personally relevant.
- This is an expertise where the private sector can meaningfully contribute.
- Well-structured public-private partnerships could thus be the catalyst.
Source: The Hindu
