Nourishing the Nation
Context: National Family Health Survey (NFHS) -5 had signalled about deteriorating nutrition. Improving the diet of low-income households is the only way to address chronic malnutrition.
Reasons for chronic and sustained malnutrition:
- Low budgetary support
- Deficits causing malnutrition:
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- Large dietary deficit: (protein-calorie-micronutrient deficit) among at least 40 % of our population of all age groups.- NFHS 4, 2015.
- Information deficit: at the household level especially among lower-income families, leading to lack of any popular demand to address malnutrition
- Inequitable market conditions: that denies affordable and energy-fortified food to children, adolescents and adults in lower-income families.
- There is a direct correlation between the high incidence of underweight, stunting and wasting among children, and the lack of low-cost fortified energy food in the market.
Way Forward: to improve the nutritional indicators of our population/addressing malnutrition
- Higher budgetary allocations: for healthcare, Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) and monitoring systems.
- Examine the current nutrition-related programmes: Go for additional interventions in chronically malnourished pockets: e.g. by using
- Create a plan: to address adolescent malnutrition.
- Update National Nutrition Policy of 1993: By prioritizing interventions in accordance with the latest surveys and research findings.
- Address 3. Deficits:
- Acknowledge and prioritize to address a dietary deficit in the public health/public policy agendas.
- Create a national IEC (information, education and communication) programme that reaches targeted households to bring behavioural change regarding importance of balanced diets.
- Provide nutritive fortified energy food: for children within Rs 5 from wheat, defatted soya, green gram, and ragi malt.
- Encourage private entrepreneur to participate in this mission as there is a market demand of 42 million tonnes of low-cost energy food per year.
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