India's Silent Emergency : Malnutrition

SATARK@PGDAV October 07, 2021
Out of the 7 billion people in this world, approximately 890 million suffer from chronic food deprivation. That's one in every nine people on the planet. More than half of the world does not have enough to eat and the rest of us eat too much!
A healthy diet effectively gives a path to a healthy body, adequate weight, natural growth, and proper functioning of the body. 

What is malnutrition? 

Malnutrition is a complex problem caused by poverty, inadequate food consumption, inequitable food distribution, improper maternal, infant, and child feeding and care practices, gender imbalances, poor sanitary and environmental conditions, and restricted access to quality health, education, and social care services. In simple words, it is a condition caused due to prolonged periods of hunger. Around 1.9 billion adults are overweight to obese while 462 million are underweight across the globe.

The reason being many families are unable to afford or obtain enough nutritious foods such as fresh fruits, vegetables, legumes, meat, and milk, whereas the foods and fluids that are high in fat, sugar, and salt are cheaper and more readily available, concluding in a rapid increase in the number of overweight and obese children and adults in both poor and well-off countries. It's not uncommon to see undernutrition and obesity in the same community, household, or even individual — you can be overweight and micronutrient deficient at the same time.

It's a sad reality that despite India being the world's second-largest food producer; India's child malnutrition rates are still one of the most alarming in the world. 
The Global Hunger Index 2020 — which is calculated based upon the total undernourishment of the population, child stunting, wasting, and child mortality- ranked India at 94th place among 107 countries. This tends us to lose around 4% of GDP and up to 8% of total production due to child malnutrition. There are around 1 million cases reported in India every year. At least one in three children under 5 is implicated by malnutrition in its most visible forms: stunting (short for age), wasting (low weight for height) and overweight.

Measures To Tackle Malnutrition

India has come up with numerous schemes & policies, over the years, to combat malnutrition.

• National Nutrition Mission (POSHAN Abhiyaan) seeks to ensure a "malnutrition -free India" by 2022. POSHAN Abhiyaan by Niti Aayog strives at improving nutritional outcomes for children, adolescents, pregnant women, lactating mothers hygiene conditions like anaemia, infant care, etc.

• Unicef's (United Nation Children's Fund) Association with India. 

Unicef, the humanitarian and children's development worldwide agency helps the Indian central government and state governments to implement essential nutritional programs for underprivileged children and poor people such as zero hunger program etc. and other private agencies also work for those underprivileged people and children for their food and shelter.

~ The Zero Hunger Mission
The Zero Hunger visions to create a world free from hunger, malnutrition, and rural poverty which can be achieved through an integrated approach. It aims to set this vision a reality by 2030.

• Mid-Day Meal Scheme

The Rs 13,000 crore Mid-Day Meal Scheme (MDM) in India aims to offer daily meals to 10 crore children in around 12 lakh government and government-aided schools in India. It has specific nutritional objectives (450 to 700 calories, and 12 to 20 grammes of protein respectively for primary and upper primary school children).

• Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme

This scheme is implemented by the Ministry of Women and Child Development and targets children below 6 yrs and women. 

In this beneficiaries are provided with a package of six services that are supplementary nutrition, pre-school non-formal education, nutrition & health education, immunization, health check-up and referral services. 

What else can be done to combat malnutrition? 

• Strengthening MANREGA scheme to provide better food security. 

• Good governance with the harmonization of efforts will ensure essential nutritional services.

• Local self-government needs to focus more on welfare schemes. 

• Despite wasting food, measures should be adopted to distribute the leftover foods to NGOs. 

• Improvement in clean drinking water, reducing rates of open defecation, improving maternal health, and promoting nutritional agriculture. 

• Ensuring proper distribution of Mid-day meals with nutritional diet. 

• Government can create data sets at district or even smaller levels to eliminate it from the grassroots.

What can we as individuals do?

• Despite wasting food from leftovers of any function programmes etc one can share it with NGOs that can ensure food distribution or distribute to the people staying on pathways.

• Devote funding to nutritional programs. 

• Ensure that in our area no individual sleeps on an empty stomach. 
Malnutrition is a scar on India's face the prevents it from becoming a developed nation. It is a significant impediment to our social and economic progress. We may grow our economy to a billion-dollar valuation, but until the generation that is entitled to continue on the legacy is malnourished, we will not get anywhere. Don't merely criticise the government; take meaningful actions. Stand for the cause, help India overcome the alarming malnutrition! 

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Vishalakshi Foundation, an NGO with a 3000 volunteer base, is on a mission to zero hunger a reality for millions of children across the country. It envisions to create smart slums & end poverty for once and forever. Do your bit by donating for the cause. 

Stay Smart & Stay Satark !

 Blog By ~ Jaya & Himanshi

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