NEW DELHI: Meghalaya has ranked among the known BIMARU states in the malnutrition index giving the ruling government food for thought about how to live up to its development claims before the election.
According to a report titled ‘Bridging the gap: Tapping the agriculture potential for optimum nutrition’ prepared jointly by ASSOCHAM and EY, seven Indian states which rank high on the malnutrition index are Uttar Pradesh (50.4 per cent) followed by Bihar (49.4 per cent), Jharkhand (47.4 per cent), Chhattisgarh (43 per cent), Meghalaya (42.9 per cent), Gujarat (41.6 per cent) and Madhya Pradesh (41.5 per cent).
The one thing that the Mukul Sangma-led government can take heart from is that except Meghalaya, all the states with high malnutrition rates are ruled by BJP.
About 37 per cent of the children under the age of five are underweight, 39 per cent are stunted, 21 per cent are wasted and 8 per cent suffer from acute malnourishment in the country.
Even among the northeastern states, Meghalaya stood high as far as child undernourishment is concerned.
The report, which was released recently, also highlights the fact that while undernourishment is predominant in rural India, the urban pockets are faced with the challenge of over-nutrition. India is ranked as the third most obese nation of the world after the US and China and is called the diabetes capital of the world, said the report.
In medical terms, malnutrition is a condition that results from eating a diet in which nutrients are either not enough or are too much such that the diet causes health problems. It may involve calories, protein, carbohydrates, vitamins or minerals.
The report threw interesting and paradoxical facts with a large rural-urban gap as far as malnourishment is concerned.
Over the decade, there has been an overall reduction in the infant mortality rates and under-five mortality rate in India yet the country is housing about 50 per cent of the undernourished children of the world, reveals the joint study.
It has revealed that towards the end of 2015, 40 per cent of the Indian children were undernourished.
While the percentage of stunted children under five reduced from 48 per cent in 2005-06 to 39 per cent in 2015-16, the percentage of children who are wasted increased slightly from 19.8 to 21 per cent. The prevalence of underweight children was higher (38 per cent) in rural areas compared to urban cities (29 per cent). Only about 10 per cent children under the age 6-23 months were reported to receive an adequate diet.
This inequality is accentuated by the stark state-level disparity in nutritional status. For 1-5 years of age, the prevalence of underweight children ranged from 42 per cent in Jharkhand followed by Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh with 37 per cent, 36 per cent and 34.1 per cent, respectively, to 14.1 per cent in Manipur. Prevalence of stunting ranged from 50.4 per cent in Uttar Pradesh to 19.4 per cent in Kerala. Arunachal Pradesh has the highest level of wasting with 19 per cent and Sikkim has the lowest with 5 per cent.
The double burden of malnutrition stresses upon the urgent need to address policy challenges beyond health, the study said.
“The policy needs to focus on reducing health and social inequities within populations, raising educational attainment and providing WASH facilities as well as secured jobs to ensure access to services. Programmes and policies that aim to address this nutrition burden present a double-win situation,” the study added.
India continues to consume non-nutritious, non-balanced food either in the form of under-nutrition, over-nutrition or micronutrient deficiencies. It is important to understand that malnutrition derives not just from lack of food but from a diverse set of interlinked processes linking healthcare, education, sanitation and hygiene, access to resources, women’s empowerment and more, the study suggested.
The choices that individuals make regarding food to produce and market and the diets they consume have a direct bearing on nutrition outcomes. Similarly, the availability of nutritious food in markets plays an equally significant role in motivating the community to make the right choices, it added.
