Malnutrition

About 43 lakh or 7.7 per cent children were found malnourished out of approximately 5.6 crore children measured by 'Poshan Tracker' in the month of February, the Ministry of Women and Child Development said on Friday. Responding to a question in Lok Sabha, Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani said Meghalaya reported the highest number of stunting at 46.5 per cent, while Puducherry recorded the lowest at 20 per cent. Maharashtra reported the highest level of wasted children at 25.6 per cent, while Chandigarh reported the minimum at 8.4 per cent, according to the data shared in a written response. Child wasting refers to a child who is too thin for his or her height and is the result of recent rapid weight loss or the failure to gain weight. A child who is moderately or severely wasted has an increased risk of death, but treatment is possible. The data also said that Bihar reported the maximum percentage of children who are underweight, while Mizoram reported the minimum

The Gujarat government on Thursday informed the Legislative Assembly that more than 1.25 lakh children in the state were malnourished and it was taking various steps to improve the situation. Responding to a set of questions raised by Congress MLAs during Question Hour, Women and Child Development Minister Bhanuben Babariya informed that out of the total 1,25,707 malnourished children in the state, 1,01,586 were 'underweight', while 24,121 fell in the category of 'severely underweight'. Tribal-dominated district of Narmada accounted for the highest number of malnourished children (12,492), followed by Vadodara (11,322), Anand (9,615), Sabarkantha (7,270), Surat (6,967) and Bharuch (5,863), said Babariya in her written replies. The minister said the state government is taking various steps to end malnutrition in the state. Children in the age group of 3 to 6 years are given hot breakfast and lunch at anganwadis (child care centres). In addition, fruits are given to children twice a

Acute malnutrition among pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers has increased by 25 per cent in the past two years in 12 countries hard hit by rising food prices fuelled by the fighting in Ukraine, according to a new United Nations report. Surveys in 10 countries in Africa and two in the Middle East that are worst affected by the food crisis were used in a UNICEF report, released Tuesday, a day before International Women's Day. Poor nutrition in pregnant and breastfeeding women can lead to weak immunity and complications during pregnancy and birth. Some countries in sub-Saharan Africa have in previous studies recorded high infant mortality rates due to various complications. Globally, 51 million children under two years old are too short for their age due to malnutrition, a condition called stunting, and half of these become stunted during pregnancy or within their first six months of life, the report states. Without urgent action from the international community, the consequence

One-third of Sudan's population (about 15.5 mn people) needs humanitarian assistance this year, while the world body says it will provide assistance to 12.5 mn people in need

The report predicted that four million children and women will experience acute malnutrition, with malnutrition rates continuing to be exceedingly high

The impact of drought in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia has led to food insecurity and a high level of acute malnutrition, the UN WFP has warned

Has India's battle against poverty done well in the last 5 yrs?

A World Bank report said that the pandemic pushed 56 million Indians into poverty. This report offers insight into India's prolonged struggle against poverty and its by-products like malnutrition

India ranked 107 out of 121 countries in the Global Hunger Index 2022, slipping 6 ranks and an expert believes that the ranking had been driven almost entirely by an incorrectly recorded rise

For the nation's healthy and empowered future, children should be well-fed and free from malnutrition, said Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday. In his address while launching a National Nutrition Month programme at Lok Bhawan, Adityanath said if a teenager girl or child is well nourished, then society and the nation will move towards achieving the goal of becoming healthy and empowered. According to an official statement, the chief minister inaugurated 501 anganwadis and laid the foundation of 199 such centres. He also released a nutrition manual for the capacity building of anganwadi workers. He also launched a mobile app, "Sahyog", for collaborative supervision of anganwadis. The chief minister performed "annaprashan" of two children. He said 1.7 crore children strengthen their foundation through anganwadis in the state.

The U.N. food chief warned Thursday that the world is facing a global emergency of unprecedented magnitude, with up to 345 million people marching toward starvation and 70 million pushed closer to starvation by the war in Ukraine. David Beasley, executive director of the U.N. World Food Program, told the U.N. Security Council that the 345 million people facing acute food insecurity in the 82 countries where the agency operates is 2 times the number of acutely food insecure people before the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020. He said it is incredibly troubling that 50 million of those people in 45 countries are suffering from very acute malnutrition and are knocking on famine's door. What was a wave of hunger is now a tsunami of hunger, he said, pointing to rising conflict, the pandemic's economic ripple effects, climate change, rising fuel prices and the war in Ukraine. Since Russia invaded its neighbour on Feb. 24, Beasley said, soaring food, fuel and fertilizer costs have driven 70

Increasing the use of nutritious coarse grains like millets will help

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said malnutrition will be eradicated from the state in the next one or one-and-a-half years

In Afghanistan, 1.1 million children under the age of five will likely face the most severe form of malnutrition this year, according to the UN

In an interview with Vinay Umarji, Elizabeth Yee, executive vice-president, program strategy and chief of staff at The Rockefeller Foundation, talks about its endeavours on her maiden visit to India

With the country facing one of its worst food crises, about 2 in 3 children in Afghanistan - or 12 million - whose families depend on farming to survive, are struggling to get enough food to eat daily

Fortified rice is made as per the standards fixed by the food regulator FSSAI which has prescribed blending rice with three micronutrients -- Iron, Folic Acid and Vitamin B12

The Unicef has warned that 1 million children in Afghanistan may die of acute malnutrition if urgent action wasn't taken.

The guidelines of the restructured scheme, Saksham Anganwadi and POSHAN 2.0, are still being worked out and POSHAN 2.0 has not yet been approved, an RTI response revealed

Malnutrition and consequent deaths among Afghan children have increased by over 50 per cent

Globally, scientific studies have shown that fortification programmes lead to increased market share for larger formal players, and reduce market share of the informal sector