Union Minister for Women and Child Development has informed the Rajya Sabha that the Central government aims to reduce stunting and under-nutrition (underweight prevalence) among children under 6 years by 2% per annum.
What did the government say?
- The Union Minister stated that the government aims to reduce —
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- low birth weight by 2% per annum, and
- Anaemia among children between six and 59 months, as well as women and adolescent girls (15 to 49 years), by 3% per annum.
- Anaemia is a medical condition in which the blood doesn’t have enough healthy red blood cells.
- The Union Minister also highlighted data with respect to NFHS-5 –
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- Meghalaya has the highest number of stunted children (46.5%), followed by Bihar (42.9%).
- Maharashtra has 25.6% wasted children (weight for height) — the highest — followed by Gujarat (25.1%).
- Jharkhand has the highest percentage of women (26%), between 15 and 49 years, who have a below-normal Body Mass Index (BMI). Body mass index (BMI) is a measure of body fat based on height and weight that applies to adult men and women.
Key highlights of National Family Health Survey-5 —
- The report comprises of detailed information on key domains of population, such as — health and family welfare; fertility; family planning; infant and child mortality; maternal and child health; nutrition and anaemia; morbidity and healthcare; women’s empowerment etc.
- Key results from NFHS-5 –
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- Institutional Births have increased substantially from 79 percent to 89 percent in India.
- Stunting has reduced from 38.4% to 35.5%, wasting from 21.0% to 19.3% and underweight prevalence is down from 35.8% to 32.1%, according to the data.
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- Stunting is defined as low height-for-age.
- Wasting is defined as low weight-for-height.
- Women (15-49 years) whose BMI is below normal has reduced from 22.9% in NFHS-4 to 18.7% in NFHS-5.