Children under 5 years reported to be underweight in India

 National Family Health Survey, 2005-06

As per the latest National Family Health Survey, 2005-06 (NFHS-3), 42.5% children under 5 years have been reported to be underweight in India. The problem of malnutrition is multidimensional and inter-generational in nature, the determinants of which include household food insecurity, illiteracy and lack of awareness especially in women, access to health services, availability of safe drinking water, sanitation and environmental conditions and purchasing power etc.

Besides early age at marriage of girls, teenage pregnancies resulting in low birth weight of the newborns, poor breastfeeding practices, poor complementary feeding practices, ignorance about nutritional needs of infants and young children and repeated infections further aggravate the malnutrition amongst children.

The Government has been implementing several schemes which have an impact on the nutritional status of the people.
The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Schemes is being implemented by Ministry of Women and Child Development through State Governments/UT Administrations. The scheme provides a package of six services, namely supplementary nutrition, pre-school non-formal education, nutrition & health education, immunization, health Check-up and referral services. Three of the six services namely immunization, health check up and referral services are delivered through the public health system of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.

The Government has recently taken various steps which include universalisation of the scheme with special focus on SC/ST and minority habitations, revision in cost norms as well as the nutritional and feeding norms of the Supplementary Nutrition component of ICDS. In addition, Government has introduced provision of flexi fund at Anganwadi centre level and new World Health Organisation (WHO) Growth Standards for growth monitoring.

Besides the ICDS programme, Government has been implementing a number of other schemes, which directly or indirectly affect the nutritional status of women and children. Some of them are as follows:

• Reproductive & Child Health Programme under the National Rural Health Mission being implemented by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has interventions which include Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) to promote institutional deliveries; Immunization; Integrated Management of Neonatal and Childhood Illness; Specific Programmes to prevent and combat micronutrient deficiencies of Vitamin A and Iron & Folic Acid through Vitamin A Supplementation for children till the age of 5 years and Iron & Folic Acid Supplementation for infants, preschool children, adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women; Iodised salt is being provided for combating Iodine Deficiency Disorders.

• Mid-Day meal programme of Department of School Education and Literacy under which meals are provided to children in the age group 6-14 years in the school.

• Nutrition Programme for Adolescent Girls and Kishori Shakti Yojna of Ministry of Women and Child Development.

• Availability of essential food items at subsidized cost through Targeted Public Distribution System and Antodaya Anna Yojna by Department of Food and Consumer Affairs.

• Provision of safe water supply and sanitation under the Total Sanitation Campaign of Ministry of Rural Development etc.

This information was given by Smt. Krishna Tirath, Minister of State for Women and Child Development in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today.