UNICEF compliments India for its 'sustained awareness programme' to bring down malnutrition

Complimenting India for its "sustained awareness programme" to bring down malnutrition, a senior UNICEF official on Wednesday said he had never seen such efforts before.

Chief of UNICEF India (Nutrition) Arjan De Wagt, who is here to release the UN agency's report -- The State of the World's Children 2019 -- to mark World Food Day, said that the extent of mobilisation to create awareness was unprecedented in the country.

"I have never seen so much of efforts taken by India to fight malnutrition through various sustained health awareness programmes utilising the services of different government agencies and NGOs. I have never seen such a kind of mob-mobilisation to spread awareness among rural and urban women on the importance of breast feeding, pre-natal care, having quality, and sufficient nutritious food," he said.

The UNICEF official claimed that an average of 34.7 per cent of Indian children, under the age of five years, are stunted. Of them, 34 per cent are girl babies and 35.4 per cent were boys. The average percentage for Indian rural areas for such children is 37 and urban areas 27.3.

Coverage (of population and area), continuity, intensity and quality of food, could be the strategies taken in a sustained manner to bring down malnutrition among children. He was sure that India would be a best performing country in the world in the next 20 years, if this pace of campaign continued with intensity to end malnutrition.

Referring to many women, even in their adolescent age, who are anaemic and suffer from malnutrition, Wagt cautioned that this would have chain reaction with such women, after their marriage, getting children born with malnutrition or infant mortality.

He said some of the Southern States had progressed well in fighting malnutrition. "Better income, education, affordability, knowledge" had played a greater role in this regard.

Kien Dwyer, chief of communication, advocacy and partnerships for UNICEF India, said malnutrition profoundly harms children's growth and development. Unless it is addressed, children and societies will struggle to reach their potential.

In the report, UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta H Fore said good nutrition paves the way for a fair chance in life and far too many children and young people are not getting the diets they need, which is undermining their capacity to grow, develop and learn to their full potential.

"How is it in the 21st century still there are 149 million children under the age of five with stunting..Why are healthy diets becoming more expensive while unhealthy, non-nutritious diets are becoming cheaper?", she asked.