34 pc children aged under 5 stunted, 15 pc underweight: Govt

New Delhi, Dec 3 (IANS) About 34 per cent of children aged under 5 are stunted, while 15 per cent are underweight, the government on Wednesday informed the Parliament, citing its ‘Poshan Tracker’ data.

In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Women and Child Development Savitri Thakur noted significant improvement in the malnutrition indicators in children across the country.

As per data till October, more than 6.44 crore children between 0 – 5 years, enrolled in Anganwadis, were measured on growth parameters of height and weight.

“A total of 33.54 per cent of children were found to be stunted and 14.41 per cent were underweight. Another 5.03 per cent of children were in the wasted,” Thakur said, citing the data from the Poshan Tracker.

“As per National Family Health Survey-5 (2019-21), stunting among children under 5 was 35.5 per cent, underweight children accounted for 32.1 per cent, and 19.3 per cent were affected by wasting,” she added.

Thakur also shared a 2021 survey by the World Bank conducted in 11 priority states (Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh) with the highest rates of anaemia and stunting.

“The findings demonstrated that the services delivered through the Poshan Abhiyaan — the receipt of relevant messages, home visits by the anganwadi worker, and attendance at community-based events — were associated with improved nutrition behaviours,” Thakur said.

The survey also found that the programme’s nutrition messages reached more than 80 per cent of women, and that 81 per cent of women practiced exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months.

Under the 15th Finance Commission, various components like Anganwadi services, Poshan Abhiyaan, and Scheme for Adolescent girls (of 14-18 years in Aspirational Districts and North-Eastern region) have been subsumed under the umbrella Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 (Mission Poshan 2.0) to address the challenge of malnutrition.

The ‘Poshan Tracker’ application was rolled out in March 2021 as an important governance tool. The Poshan Tracker facilitates monitoring and tracking of all AWCs, AWWs, and beneficiaries on defined indicators.

Technology under Poshan Tracker is being leveraged for dynamic identification of stunting, wasting, and underweight prevalence among children.

–IANS

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