TRENDS IN MALNUTRITION AMONG THE UNDER FIVE YEARS CHILDREN OF INDIA

Abstract

At least 1 in 3 children under 5 years (U-5) is not growing well in the World owing to malnutrition. Stunting, wasting, underweight, and overweight are important measuring indicators of malnutrition. Those indicators also reflect the population health of a country. Indias economy is growing faster and already has emerged as the 5th largest economic country in the World. However, stunting, wasting, and underweight prevalence remain high in India. The purpose of this study is to find the trends of stunting, wasting, underweight, and overweight prevalence of U-5 children in India comparing its status with the Global average and to evaluate its status towards the Global target of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2.2 by 2030. Data on stunting, wasting, underweight, and overweight prevalence of U-5 children are collected for 2010 to 2020 from the open website of WHO and the World Bank. The data from the reports of National Family Health Surveys (NFHS-3 to 5, India) are also considered for the study. It is observed that Indias average prevalence of stunting from 2010 to 2020 is 37.59%, which is higher than that of the World (24.55)%. However, India is accelerating its progress with an average annual reduction of 3.58%. Data on wasting and underweight of U-5 are very sporadic. Indias wasting and underweight prevalence are found higher than that of the World average to available values in different years from 2010 to 2020. Indias average overweight prevalence from 2010 to 2020 is much lower than that of the Worlds value (5.63%). In the case of U-5 stunting and overweight prevalence, India will be closer - based on the average annual reduction rate - to the interim global target 2025 (adopted by WHA 2012) which was to reduce 40% stunting and not to increase the overweight prevalence but, India will be far away from the SDG 2.2 in all forms of malnutrition by 2030. An immediate acceleration of progress is required in the reduction of stunting, wasting, and underweight prevalence along with long-term future strategies to manage the growth of overweight prevalence to achieve the Global target (SDG 2.2) by 2030. Further in-depth research studies may be conducted having broader demographic features and on policy implementation.