Over 9 lakh kids, most from UP, acutely malnourished

Source: TOI

What is the News?

The Ministry of Women and Child Development has informed Rajya Sabha about the status of the Malnourishment of Children in India.

Malnourishment in Children:

• Over 9.3 lakh severely acute malnourished (SAM) children between six months and six years have been identified in the country till November 2020. Out of this number, Uttar Pradesh accounted for over 4 lakh, such children.

Government Initiatives to tackle Malnutrition among Children:

• Under Integrated Child Development Services(ICDS), supplementary nutrition is provided to children, including severely malnourished children in the age group of 6 months-6 years.
• The government has launched its flagship program Poshan Abhiyan aimed at reducing malnutrition. Under this, the target is to bring down stunting of children under 6 years from 38.4% to 25% by the year 2022.
• Poshan Tracker: Poshan Tracker was launched under Mission Poshan 2.0. The tracker provides real-time monitoring and information relating to various parameters of service delivery and malnutrition under Poshan Abhiyan.

Undernutrition among Women:

• According to the National Family Health Survey-4(2015-16), the prevalence of undernutrition among women was 22.9% as compared to males (20.2%). This is an improvement from the levels of 35.5% and 34.2% respectively reported in NFHS-3 (2005-06).