Scientists, policy makers must adopt new strategies to tackle

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu Friday said although successive governments have rolled out many schemes, including the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) and the Mid Day Meal programme, malnutrition is still prevalent in the country.

Speaking ata valedictory session of the international conference on Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals, here, Naidu said with constantly changing food environment, increasing nutrition awareness and health information, there has been a demand for a scientifically authenticated database of many foods.

"Although successive governments have rolled out many schemes, including the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) and the Mid Day Meal programme, malnutrition is still prevalent in the country.

I think the time has come for scientists, policymakers and planners to adopt new strategies to tackle the problem of malnutrition,"he said.

India,which was ranked at 103 among 119 countries in the Global Hunger Index of 2018, hasa number of nutritional challenges, Naidu noted and added nutrition scientistsneed to accord the highest priority to eliminate "triple burden of malnutrition comprising under-nutrition, over-nutrition and micronutrient deficiencies."