72 lakh under-5 kids malnourished, government data shows

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 17

The government is planning a major budgetary push for nutrition rehabilitation centres being built across India to fight acute child malnourishment. India’s latest health data show that 6.4 per cent of all under-five children (72 lakh currently) are facing severe acute malnourishment — a condition called severe wasting.

“Severely acutely malnourished children have very low weight for their height and are severely wasted. Wasting is a major indicator of acute malnourishment. It means low weight for height,” Dr Ajay Khera, of the Ministry of Health says.

The new National Family Health Survey shows the number of wasted children, with low weight according to their height, rose over the past decade instead of dropping.

The percentage of wasted under-five Indian children between the last survey in 2005 and the one done recently has increased from 19.8 per cent to 21 per cent.

This means one in every five children below five years has a lower weight for his or her height.

The rise in the number of wasted children has been one of the highest for Punjab, where the percentage of such kids has increased from 9.2 per cent in 2005 to 15.6 per cent in the latest survey.

To address the acute malnourishment condition, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan and Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani met today and discussed possible areas of convergence to address the challenge. A unanimous view was to back nutrition rehabilitation centres to specifically address SAM (severely acutely malnourished) children. India currently has 1,000 nutrition rehabs but the Centre plans to add to these numbers.

Punjab witnesses highest rise 

The rise in the number of wasted children has been one of the highest for Punjab. The percentage of such children in the state has increased from 9.2 per cent in 2005 to 15.6 per cent in the latest survey