Malnourishment Among Children And Women

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA 

MINISTRY OF WOMEN & CHILD DEVELOPMENT 

LOK SABHA 

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2060 

TO BE ANSWERED ON 21.12.2018 

MALNOURISHMENT AMONG CHILDREN AND WOMEN 

2060. SHRI RAJESH PANDEY

          SHRI NISHIKANT DUBEY 

          SHRI RAVINDRA KUMAR PANDEY

          SHRI RAJU SHETTY

          SHRI A.T. NANA PATIL 

Will the Minister of WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state: 

• (a) whether the Government is implementing National Child Health Programme and if so, the salient features of the programme along with the details thereof; 

• (b) whether the cases of malnourishment among children and women have increased in the country specially in rural areas and if so, the details thereof; 

• (c) whether the Government has conducted any study to identify the level of malnutrition among the children and women in rural and urban areas in the country, State/UT-wise including Maharashtra; 

• (d) the percentage of children and women suffering from malnutrition in the country, State/UT-wise including Maharashtra; 

• (e) whether the percentage of malnourishment in women and children has not declined despite various initiatives taken by the Government and if so, the reasons therefor; and 

• (f) whether it is a fact that malnourished mothers give birth to malnourished children and if so, the action plan proposed by the Government to implement schemes effectively? 

ANSWER 

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY 

OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT 

(DR. VIRENDRA KUMAR) 

(a) Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is implementing various Child Health Programmes at national level. The salient features of these programmes along with the details are given in Annexure-1. 

(b) As per the report of National Family Health Survey (NFHS) – 4 (2015-16), 35.7% children under 5 years of age are underweight and 38.4% are stunted indicating a reduction from the previous NFHS – 3 (2005-06), which reported 42.5% children under 5 years of age as underweight and 48% stunted. Further, in the rural areas, 38.3% children are underweight and 41.2% are stunted as per NFHS-4 report, which is also a reduction from the prevalence reported under NFHS-3, viz., 45.6% children underweight and 50.7% stunted. 

Among women (15-49 years of age), 22.9% are underweight which is a decline from the previous NFHS-3 levels which reported underweight prevalence to be 35.5% among women. In the rural areas, 26.7% women (15-49 years) are underweight as per NFHS-4 which is reduction from the previous NFHS-3 levels of 40.6% women being underweight. 

(c): Data on nutritional indicators is captured under the National Family Health Surveys (NFHS) conducted periodically by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in the entire country including the State of Maharashtra. The latest round of the survey (NFHS-4) was conducted in 2015-16. 

(d): The percentage of children and women suffering from malnutrition in the country, State/UT-wise including Maharashtra as per NFHS-4 is at Annexure-2. 

(e): The prevalence of malnourishment among women and children in the country has declined in the country as per the report of the National Family Health Surveys conducted in 2005-06 and 2015-16 as stated above. 

(f): Yes, Madam. As per research evidence, malnourished mothers tend to give birth to malnourished children. In order to address this problem, this Ministry is implementing schemes like Anganwadi Services, Scheme for Adolescent Girls and Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojna under the Umbrella Integrated Child Development Services Scheme as direct targeted interventions. The problem of malnutrition is complex, multi- dimensional and inter-generational in nature and requires convergence of various sectors. In order to ensure convergence of these nutrition related and those of health and other nutrition impacting schemes, the Government has set up POSHAN Abhiyaan which consists of a robust convergence action plan. POSHAN Abhiyaan aims to prevent and reduce prevalence of anaemia among women (15-49 years) and reduction in prevalence of low birth weight in the country in a time bound manner. 

Annexure-1 

Statement referred to in reply to Part (a) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Q.No. 2060 for 21.12.2018

Details of Child Health Programmes implemented by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare 

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is implementing various Child Health Programmes at national level. The salient features of these programmes along with the details are as follows: 

• Essential newborn care is provided at all delivery points by establishing Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Wings in high caseload facilities. For this purpose, Special Newborn Care Units (SNCU), Newborn Stabilization Units (NBSU) and Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) units for care of sick and small babies are operationalized. 

• Home Based Newborn Care (HBNC) is provided by ASHAs to improve child rearing practices. 

• Home based Young Child Programme has been launched in April 2018 with provision of additional 5 home visits by ASHAs starting from 3 months of age till 15 months of age of the child. 

• Early initiation and exclusive breastfeeding for first six months and appropriate Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) practices are promoted under Mothers’ Absolute Affection (MAA) programme. 

• Anemia Mukt Bharat (AMB) programme has been launched in April 2018 for preventing wide-spread anaemia among women, children and adolescents. 

• Vitamin A supplementation (VAS) for children till the age of 5 years. 

• National De-worming Day is implemented as a fixed day strategy to administer Albendazole tablets to all the children in the age group of 1-19 years through the platform of AWCs and Schools. 

• Childhood diarrhoea control activities are undertaken during intensified diarrhoea control fortnights (IDCF) which is organized across the country. 

• Nutrition Rehabilitation Centres (NRCs) have been set up at public health facilities to treat and manage the children with Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) admitted with medical complications. 

• Universal Immunization Programme (UIP) to provide vaccination to children against diseases pan India and for diseases in selected States and UTs. “Mission Indradhanush and Intensified Mission Indradhanush” was launched to fully immunize children who are either unvaccinated or partially vaccinated; those that have not been covered during the rounds of routine immunization for various reasons. 

• Name based tracking of mothers and children till two years of age (Mother and Child Tracking System) is done to ensure complete antenatal, intranatal, postnatal care and complete immunization as per schedule. 

• Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) for health screening, early detection of birth defects, diseases, deficiencies, development delays and early intervention services have been operationalized to provide comprehensive care to all the children in the age group of 0-18 years in the community. 

Statement referred to in reply to Part (d) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Q.No. 2060 for 21.12.2018 

Prevalence of Malnutrition among Women and Children as per NFHS – 4 (2015-16)

S.No	State	Children under 5 years		Women (15-49 years)
		Underweight (%)	Stunting (%)	Chronic Energy Deficiency (%)
1	A & N Islands	21.6	23.3	13.1
2	Andhra Pradesh	31.9	31.4	17.6
3	Arunachal Pradesh	19.4	29.4	8.5
4	Assam	29.8	36.4	25.7
5	Bihar	43.9	48.3	30.4
6	Chandigarh	24.5	28.7	13.3
7	Chhattisgarh	37.7	37.6	26.7
8	Dadra & Nagar Haveli	38.9	41.7	28.7
9	Daman & Diu	26.7	23.4	12.9
10	Delhi	27	31.9	14.9
11	Goa	23.8	20.1	14.7
12	Gujarat	39.3	38.5	27.2
13	Haryana	29.4	34	15.8
14	Himachal Pradesh	21.2	26.3	16.2
15	J&K	16.6	27.4	12.1
16	Jharkhand	47.8	45.3	31.5
17	Karnataka	35.2	36.2	20.7
18	Kerala	16.1	19.7	9.7
19	Lakshadweep	23.6	26.8	13.5
20	Madhya Pradesh	42.8	42	28.4
21	Maharashtra	36	34.4	23.5
22	Manipur	13.8	28.9	8.8
23	Meghalaya	28.9	43.8	12.1
24	Mizoram	12.0	28.1	8.4
25	Nagaland	16.7	28.6	12.3
26	Odisha	34.4	34.1	26.5
27	Puducherry	22.7	24.0	11.2
28	Punjab	21.6	25.7	11.7
29	Rajasthan	36.7	39.1	27
30	Sikkim	14.2	29.6	6.4
31	Tamil Nadu	23.8	27.1	14.6
32	Telangana	28.4	28.0	22.9
33	Tripura	24.1	24.3	18.9
34	Uttar Pradesh	39.5	46.3	25.3
35	Uttarakhand	26.6	33.5	18.4
36	West Bengal	31.6	32.5	21.3
	India	35.7	38.4	22.9

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