Health

Please Review,

Thank You.

KEY POINTS

·         According to Global Nutrition Report 2016 and the Global Hunger Index, 2017, India ranks at 100 out of 119 countries with a low overall score of 31.4.

·         25% of India’s children less than 5 years old are still malnourished.

·         Among children less than 5 years, wasting (low weight for height), continues to be 21% in the 2017 index, it was 20% in 1992.

·         Over half of adolescent girls and women are anaemic.

·         Added to this is the fact that 190.7 million people in India sleep hungry every night.

Concerns with the steps taken

·         Both the National Nutrition Strategy (NNS) and the National Nutrition Mission (NNM) have recognised the criticality of working collaboratively across Ministries.

·         Yet both are silent on the constructive role of private sector, development agencies and civil society.

·         There are no initiatives to exploring new models to address the structural and systemic issues on a priority basis.

Suggestion

·         An overhaul of capacity and capability of 3 existing programmes such as ICDS, MDM and NNM should be the first priority.

·         For purposeful action both union and state government need to have common goals and metrics for improving nutrition.

·         They should come up with metrics that are clear and measurable and a real-time tracking mechanism.

·         The approach, commitment and resources therefore have to be inter-generational, multi-sector, and multi-dimensional.

·         Government needs to mandate and scale staple food fortification comprising edible oil, wheat, rice and dairy products, in addition to salt.

·         Nutrition has to be “marketed” and made interesting, engaging, simple and personally relevant.

·         This is an expertise where the private sector can meaningfully contribute.

·         Well-structured public-private partnerships could thus be the catalyst.