Bihar has highest level of undernourishment among schoolkids

Bihar had the highest prevalence of undernourishment among school-aged children and adolescents between 5-18 years, while stunting among children is highest in Uttar Pradesh, a health survey for 2014 has said.
"Bihar recorded the highest prevalence of undernourishment (33 per cent) and severe undernourishment (21.7 per cent) among 5-18 years age group whereas Uttarakhand recorded the lowest prevalence of 19.9 per cent and 6.1 per cent respectively," the annual health survey report Clinical, Anthropometric and Biochemical (CAB) survey said.
The survey was conducted for 2014, for Bihar, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Assam, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh by the office of registrar general and census commissioner.

The CAB 2014 survey said that among the states, stunting prevalence among children is highest in Uttar Pradesh (62 per cent), while the highest prevalence of underweight and wasting is in Jharkhand (45.7 per cent) and Chhattisgarh (32.4 per cent), respectively.
"Across districts, highest prevalence of stunting, wasting and underweight outcomes is observed in Rae Bareli district (77.4 per cent) of Uttar Pradesh, Aurangabad district of Bihar (37.2 per cent) and Hamirpur district of Uttar Pradesh (70.2 per cent), respectively," it said.
The survey said that in rural areas, Rajasthan and Bihar have the maximum cases of undernourishment in the below 2 SD category at 33.8 per cent and 33.7 per cent respectively. Prevalence of overnourishment is defined as 2 SD above the reference population.

Odisha has the highest prevalence of undernourishment among males at 36.1 per cent, followed by Rajasthan at 35.9 per cent while Uttarakhand showed the least prevalence at 21.8 per cent.

"In the case of females, Bihar reported the highest prevalence at 30.5 per cent and Uttarakhand the lowest at 17.8 per cent.
"Prevalence of severe undernourishment is also high with Bihar displaying the highest prevalence among both males and females at 24 per cent and 19.1 per cent respectively, while Uttarakhand recorded the lowest for males and females at 7.1 per cent and 5 per cent respectively," the survey said.

It also said that the percentage of underweight population with body mass index (BMI) of less than 18.5 among 18-59 age-groups is highest in Uttar Pradesh (30 per cent) and lowest in Chhattisgarh (15.4 per cent).