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| NATIONAL NUTRITION WEEK | | SEP. 1-7 | | Dr. Parveen Kumar, Dr. D. Namgyal
Although the country has made huge progress in food grain production and reduction in poverty and hunger; yet the situation at the ground level has not changed so much. The country still witnesses a high prevalence of low birth weight, high morbidity and mortality in children and poor maternal nutrition of the mother. This continues to be major nutritional concern in India. The major nutritional problems are protein energy malnutrition (PEM), vitamin A deficiency (VAD), iron deficiency anemia (IDA) and iodine deficiency disorders (IDD). The different nationwide nutritional interventions have not been able to make much headway in dealing with nutritional problems. The findings of National Health Policy 2017 presented by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of India highlighted the negative impact of malnutrition on the population’s productivity, and its contribution to mortality rates in the country.
Malnutrition indicates that children are either too short for their age or too thin. Children whose height is below the average for their age are considered to be stunted. Similarly, children whose weight is below the average for their age are considered thin for their height or wasted. Together, the stunted and wasted children are considered to be underweight indicating a lack of proper nutritional intake and inadequate care post childbirth. India’s performance on key malnutrition indicators is poor according to national and international studies. According to UNICEF, India was at the 10th spot among countries with the highest number of underweight children, and at the 17th spot for the highest number of stunted children in the world. Malnutrition affects chances of survival for children, increases their susceptibility to illness, reduces their ability to learn, and makes them less productive in later life. It is estimated that malnutrition is a contributing factor in about one-third of all deaths of children under the age of 5. Over the decade between 2005 and 2015, there has been an overall reduction in the proportion of underweight children in India, mainly on account of an improvement in stunting.
While the percentage of stunted children under 5 reduced from 48% in 2005-06 to 38.4% in 2015-16, there has been a rise in the percentage of children who are wasted from 19.8% to 21% during this period. A high increase in the incidence of wasting was noted in Punjab, Goa, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Sikkim. The prevalence of underweight children was found to be higher in rural areas (38%) than urban areas (29%). According to WHO, infants weighing less than 2.5 Kg are 20 times more likely to die than heavier one. In India, the national average weight at birth is less than 2.5 Kg for 19% of the children. The incidence of low birth-weight babies varied across different states, with Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh witnessing the highest number of underweight childbirths at 23%. Further, more than half of India’s children are anemic (58%), indicating an inadequate amount of hemoglobin in the blood. This is caused by a nutritional deficiency of iron and other essential minerals, and vitamins in the body. Malnutrition is not only confined to children. Among adults, 23% of women and 20% of men are considered undernourished in India. On the other hand, 21% of women and 19% of men are overweight or obese. The simultaneous occurrence of over nutrition and under-nutrition indicates that adults in India are suffering from a dual burden of malnutrition (abnormal thinness and obesity). This implies that about 56% of women and 61% of men are at normal weight for their height.
The government of India has launched various initiatives to improve the nutrition status in the country. The various programmes launched include the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), the National Health Mission (NHM), the Janani Suraksha Yojana, the Mid-Day Meal (MDM) Scheme, the National Food Security Mission (NFSM) and many other schemes by respective state governments. The Ministry of Health and Family welfare has also released the National Nutrition Strategy. The Strategy aims to reduce all forms of malnutrition by 2030, with a focus on the most vulnerable and critical age groups. The Strategy also aims to assist in achieving the targets identified as part of the Sustainable Development Goals related to nutrition and health. The Strategy also aims to launch a National Nutrition Mission, similar to the National Health Mission. This is to enable integration of nutrition-related interventions cutting across sectors like women and child development, health, food and public distribution, sanitation, drinking water, and rural development. The strategy also focuses on a decentralized approach with greater flexibility and decision making at the state, district and local levels by involving the members of Panchayati Raj institutions and urban local bodies over nutrition initiatives. The strategy also proposes to launch interventions with a focus on improving healthcare and nutrition among children. These interventions will include: (i) promotion of breastfeeding for the first six months after birth, (ii) universal access to infant and young child care (including ICDS and crèches), (iii) enhanced care, referrals and management of severely undernourished and sick children, (iv) bi-annual vitamin A supplements for children in the age group of 9 months to 5 years, and (v) micro-nutrient supplements and bi-annual de-worming for children. In this strategy measures to improve maternal care and nutrition include: (i) supplementary nutritional support during pregnancy and lactation, (ii) health and nutrition counseling, (iii) adequate consumption of iodized salt and screening of severe anemia (iv) institutional childbirth, lactation management and improved post-natal care. Besides these, the governance reforms envisaged in the Strategy include: (i) convergence of state and district implementation plans for ICDS, NHM and Swach Bharat, (ii) focus on the most vulnerable communities in districts with the highest levels of child malnutrition, and (iii) service delivery models based on evidence of impact.
Good nutrition helps to manage healthy weight, maintains the immune system and provides energy. A well-balanced diet, with a combination of all the essential nutrients, plays a pivotal role in the growth and development of our mind and body. To make the public aware of the importance of healthy nutrition in the good health of individuals, the National Nutrition Week is observed every year from 1st September to 7th September. This event was launched by Ministry of Women and Child Development’s Food and Nutrition Board in 1982 with an objective to raise awareness on the importance of nutrition for human body. Healthy individuals are as asset for any country. In this week, let all of us do our best to make peoples aware of the different nutritional diets and the benefits of such a diet. |
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