Child Malnutrition

Gujarat continues to grapple with high malnutrition rate and widespread anaemia, despite receiving Rs 2,879 crore from the Centre under the Poshan Abhiyaan

Rural population has been grappling with decline in food and nutrition intake after the advent of the neo-liberal policies in the early 1990s with an estimated 80 per cent of them now having less than 2,200 calories per day, according to economist Utsa Patnaik. "The nutritional intake data is not there. But from whatever there is, by using certain approximations, I estimate that more than 80 per cent of the rural population has slipped below 2,200 calories per day intake," she said while delivering the second P Sundarayya memorial lecture on the topic 'Agrarian Distress, Worker-Peasant Alliance and Resistance to Corporate and Imperialist Designs in India' here on Wednesday evening. "That is what the data tell us. That is what the government's own data from the annual economic surveys and from the National Sample Service tell us. And of course, all these claims of declining mass poverty is completely false," she alleged. The accepted average calorie requirement in India is 2400 ...

Child undernutrition in India is closely linked to the poor health status of mothers as evidenced by the high prevalence of anaemia among women aged 15-49 years

The Global Hunger Index (GHI), a tool used by international humanitarian agencies to measure and track hunger levels with GHI scores based on under-nourishment and child mortality indicators across 127 countries, has ranked India 105th, which places it under the serious category of the analysis. The 2024 report, now in its 19th edition, is published this week by Irish humanitarian organisation Concern Worldwide and German aid agency Welthungerhilfe to highlight that hunger levels will remain high in many of the world's poorest countries for several decades in the absence of more progress in measures to tackle the issue. India is among 42 countries that fall within the "serious" category, alongside Pakistan and Afghanistan, with other South Asian neighbours such as Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka showing better GHI scores to be listed under the moderate category. With a score of 27.3 in the 2024 Global Hunger Index, India has a level of hunger that is serious, reads the index ...

The pandemic and debt crises in poorer countries have hit health and education funding

Afghanistan's Taliban-appointed Ministry of Public Health said that the number of malnourished mothers and children in the country has slightly increased compared to past years

Students of government schools in Uttar Pradesh may soon be served millets in the mid-day meals at least once a week to provide them with better nutrition. The year 2023 has been designated as the 'International Year of Millets' after a proposal for the same was brought forward by the Government of India and endorsed by members of FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation) Governing Bodies, as well as by the 75th session of the UN General Assembly. Director General School Education in Uttar Pradesh Vijay Kiran Anand said, "We will soon have a meeting with Union government officials regarding the introduction of millets in mid-day meals." The Mid Day Meal Authority of Uttar Pradesh, responsible for providing mid-day meals in government and aided schools from class 1 to 8, has proposed to the Union government that students in 1.42 lakh schools across the state be served a millet-based meal. According to the plan, students will either be served chapatis or khichdi made of bajra in mid-da

The Gujarat government on Thursday informed the Legislative Assembly that more than 1.25 lakh children in the state were malnourished and it was taking various steps to improve the situation. Responding to a set of questions raised by Congress MLAs during Question Hour, Women and Child Development Minister Bhanuben Babariya informed that out of the total 1,25,707 malnourished children in the state, 1,01,586 were 'underweight', while 24,121 fell in the category of 'severely underweight'. Tribal-dominated district of Narmada accounted for the highest number of malnourished children (12,492), followed by Vadodara (11,322), Anand (9,615), Sabarkantha (7,270), Surat (6,967) and Bharuch (5,863), said Babariya in her written replies. The minister said the state government is taking various steps to end malnutrition in the state. Children in the age group of 3 to 6 years are given hot breakfast and lunch at anganwadis (child care centres). In addition, fruits are given to children twice a

More than 550,000 additional children each month are being struck by what is called wasting, according to the UN

The country records deaths of over million children annually before their fifth birthday