How hunger came back to haunt India
Starting in the mother’s womb, the first 1,000 days of a child’s life provide a window of opportunity to improve the child’s nutrition and health outcomes. Those are closely linked to better education, earnings, and health outcomes in later life.
(Photo: HT)
Reetika Khera
With data showing a worrying rise in child undernutrition, urgent action is required. Where are the gaps?
Getting ICDS services running immediately should be top priority, along with a resumption in school meals. Since malls and cinema halls have reopened, anganwadis should too
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Strengthening efforts at community level will play a key role in stepping up the fight against malnutrition financialexpress.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from financialexpress.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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The stagnation of stunting rates is particularly alarming. Height, unlike weight, is not affected by short-term factors, so this is not a transient setback. Stunting in childhood is associated with serious impairments later in life, including lower school achievements.
Note that the NFHS-5 data pertains to the situation just before the COVID-19 crisis. One year later, chances are that child nutrition has deteriorated. Indeed, numerous household surveys point to severe food insecurity across India in 2020. In the latest survey, Hunger Watch, two-thirds of the respondents (adults from India’s poorest households) said that they were eating less nutritious food today than before the lockdown a chilling thought. It would be surprising if this did not have an adverse impact on child growth.