Lok Sabha Question No. 4038 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-08-10
Subject: Obesity in Children
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: KALYAN BANERJEE

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN & CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4038 TO BE ANSWERED ON 10.08.2018

## OBESITY IN CHILDREN

## 4038.  SHRI KALYAN BANERJEE:

Will the Minister of WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- a) whether it is a fact that girl children in the country are suffering from obesity and are deprived from basic nutrition;
- b) if so, whether the Government has received any survey report on paucity of credible, authentic information on the health status of girl children;
- c) if so, the details thereof along with suggestions made therein; and
- d) the measures taken by the Government to provide adequate nutrition and sustain good health of the children?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI MANEKA SANJAY GANDHI)

- (a) to (c):  The  data  on  nutritional  indicators  is  captured  under  the  National  Family Health Surveys (NFHS) conducted periodically by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. As per the report of the latest NFHS-4 (2015-16), 2.1% girls under 5 years of age are overweight in the country and 20.1% are underweight.
- (d) Government has accorded high priority to the issue of improving nutritional outcomes in the country and is implementing various interventions to provide adequate nutrition including prevention of obesity among children as under:
- i. In  order  to  address  undernutrition  among  children  Ministry  of  Women  and  Child Development is implementing Anganwadi Services, Scheme for Adolescent Girls and Pradhan  Mantri  Matru  Vandana  Yojana  as  direct  targeted  interventions  to  improve nutritional outcomes in the country.
- ii. Under the POSHAN Abhiyaan, convergence mechanism has been provided for intersectoral convergence of programmes and schemes related to nutrition administered by various Ministries/Departments to address the issues of under-nutrition.
- iii. The Food and Nutrition Board under the Ministry of Women and Child Development with its 43 field units in the country is engaged in creating awareness on nutrition in collaboration  with  State  Government/institutions  through  exhibitions,  advertisement in  audiovisual  and  print  media,  lectures  promoting  the  consumption  of  healthy balanced  diets  and  inclusion  of  fruits  and  vegetables,  demonstrations  of  low  cost nutritious  recipes  using  locally  available  foods,  training  of  field  functionaries  and celebration of nutrition related national events.
- iv. In order to promote and support breastfeeding, Government has implemented 'MAAMothers'  Absolute  Affection'  programme  which  aims  at  improving  breastfeeding coverage and appropriate breastfeeding practices in the country.
- v. Setting up of Nutrition Rehabilitation Centres at public health facilities for treatment of sick children with Severe Acute Malnutrition.
- vi. Vitamin A supplementation for children till the age of 5 years.
- vii. National  Iron  Plus  Initiative  for  supplementation  and  treatment  of  anaemia  among children, adolescents, pregnant and lactating women.
- viii. Bi-annual National De-worming Days are held across the country following a fixed day strategy to administer Albendazole tablets to all the children in the age group of 1-19 years to prevent anemia by reducing worm infestation.
- ix. Information on health and hygiene is provided to out-of-school girls under Rashtriya Kishore Swasthya Karyakram through peer education programme.
- x. Village Health and Nutrition Days and Mother and Child Protection Card are the joint initiative of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and the Ministry of Woman and Child Development for addressing the nutrition concerns in children, pregnant women and lactating mothers.
- xi. Food Safety and Standard Authority of  India under Ministry of Health  and  Family Welfare  have  launched  'The  Eat  Right  Movement'  aiming  to  engage  and  enable citizens to improve their health and wellbeing by eating healthy and nutritious foods. The 'Eat Right Movement' aims to create public awareness that regular and excessive consumption of foods high in salt, sugar and fat leads to obesity.
- xii. Ministry  of  Women  and  Child  Development  had  constituted  a  Working  Group  on addressing consumption of foods High in Fat, Salt and Sugar (HFSS) and promotion of  healthy  snacks  in  schools,  which  has  given  its  report.  The  Working  Group inter alia recommended that the aspects related to healthy eating and Junk Foods may be incorporated  in  the  school  curriculum.  Accordingly,  Central  Board  of  Secondary Education  (CBSE)  has  issued  an  advisory  covering  major  recommendations  of  the report to all schools affiliated to it, encouraging them to implement the recommendations.
- xiii. To address the issue of High Fat, Sugar and Salt (HFSS) in food and associated health risks, FSSAI had constituted an Expert Group, the report of which is available on the website of FSSAI for the information of general public. FSSAI has also issued draft Guidelines titled  'Guidelines for  making  available wholesome, Nutritious, Safe  and Hygienic Food to School Children in India'.

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