Rise in child stunting in four years: Survey

Strap: State directs Health and Family Welfare, Ayurveda Depts to monitor kids’ growth in first two years

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Table: Parameters register increase

Ratio 2015-16 2019-20

Stunting 26% 31%

Wasting 14 % 17%

Overweight kids 2% 6%

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, December 24

As per the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) 2019-20 findings, there has been an increase in the ratio of underweight, overweight, wasting (when a child is too thin for his/her height) and stunting (impaired growth and development) children below five years of age, in the past four years.

The underweight children have been found to be short in height as well as wasted. As much as 31 per cent of children under five years of age exhibited stunting, while 17 per cent showed wasting.

The survey finding also shows that children under five years, whose weight is less than that expected for their age, increased from 21.2 per cent in 2015-16 to 25.5 per cent in 2019-20. These findings were recently shared with the state government by Niti Ayog’s member Professor Vinod Paul. It was pointed out that the first 1,000 days were crucial for a child’s growth.

The stunting ratio has risen from 26 per cent in 2015-16 to 31 per cent in 2019-20, while the wasting ratio has grown from 14 per cent to 17 per cent during this period.

The ratio of overweight children has tripled from 2 per cent to 6 per cent from 2015-16 to 2019-20.

The state has 12 districts and only a few have recorded an improvement in these criteria in the past four years. While Hamirpur and Shimla districts have shown an improvement in stunting, the trend in the remaining 10 districts has worsened in the past four years.

In wasting criterion, only four districts namely Lahaul-Spiti, Bilaspur, Kinnaur and Sirmaur have shown an improvement. In overweight criterion, only Hamirpur registered improvement. Shimla, Sirmaur and Solan have shown an improvement in underweight criterion, while only Hamirpur showed improvement in overweight parameter.

The state has directed the officials of various departments such as Health and Family Welfare, Ayurveda as well as Women and Child Health to coordinate this trend by monitoring the growth of children in the first two years.

Anganwari workers will be assisted by the health staff to check malnourishment among children, with focus on controlling diarrhoea and respiratory diseases. Early marriage, especially among the migrant population, also resulted in malnutrition, said health experts.