Lok Sabha Question No. 388 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-02-03
Subject: Malnutrition among Women and Children
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: TAMRADHWAJ SAHU, NINONG ERING, ABHISHEK SINGH, GEETHA KOTHAPALLI, Adhikari Dibyendu

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 388 TO BE ANSWERED ON 03.02.2017

## MALNUTRITION AMONG WOMEN AND CHILDREN

388:      SHRI TAMRADHWAJ SAHU SHRI NINONG ERING SHRI ABHISHEK SINGH SHRIMATI KOTHAPALLI GEETHA SHRI DIBYENDU ADHIKARI

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

- (a) whether  the  Government  has  taken  note  of  poor  ranking  of  India vis-a-vis other  developing countries in the Global Nutrition Report 2016 and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the Government has identified districts/blocks facing chronic malnutrition among women and children across the nation;
- (c) if so, the details thereof indicating the number of malnourished, high rate of neo-natal mortality, underweight and stunted children in the country, State/UT wise along with the reasons therefor; and
- (d) the details of impact assessment studies of schemes initiated to improve the nutritional status of women  and  children  along  with  the  further  measures  taken  by  the  Government  to  eradicate malnutrition from the country?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF  WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI KRISHNA RAJ)

- (a) Yes Madam. However, various nutrition indicators pertaining to India shown in the Report are based on National Family Health Survey -3 (2005-06), which is more than 10 to 12 years old. NFHS-4 data now available for 26 States shows a declining trend in the indicators of malnutrition in the country.
- (b)       &  (c): Yes, Madam.  The Government has identified 200 districts with high malnutrition burden in the country.  The state-wise prevalence of underweight, stunting and wasting among children as per the current available data of National Family Health Survey-4 (26 States) is at Annexure-I. The State/UT-wise Neonatal Mortality Rate as per Sample Registration Survey is at Annexure-II. Malnutrition is a multi-faceted problem and the causes include inadequate access to food, health services, safe drinking water, sanitation and environmental conditions, educational levels, income and  socio-cultural  factors  like  early  marriage,  etc.  The  situation  is  further  compounded  by ignorance about nutritional needs of infants and young children and repeated infections.
- (e) National  Family  Health  Surveys  conducted  periodically  assess  the  nutritional  status  of  the population over a period of time which is an outcome of the impact of all the schemes of the Government intended to bring about improvement in the nutritional status.  The latest National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) was conducted in 2015-16 and as per the current available data for  26  States  there  is  a  declining  trend  in  the  indicators  of  malnutrition  in  the  country  as compared to NFHS-3 data, which is an outcome of the various schemes implemented by the Government towards this goal.

However,  Malnutrition  is  complex,  multi-dimensional  and  inter-generational  in  nature,  needing convergence  of  interventions,  coordination  and  concerted  action  from  various  sectors.  The Government has accorded high priority to the issue of malnutrition and is implementing several schemes/programmes of different Ministries/Departments through States/UTs to address one or other  aspects  related  to  nutrition.  This  Ministry  is  implementing  Integrated  Child  Development Services (ICDS) Scheme, Scheme for Adolescent Girls (Sabla), Matritva Sahyog Yojna (MSY) as direct targeted interventions with an aim to improve nutritional outcomes and bring down the level of malnutrition in the country especially amongst women and children.

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## Prevalence of Underweight, Stunting and Wasting among children below 5 years as per National Family Health Survey - 4 (2015-16)

|   S. No. | States                    |   Underweight |   Stunted |   Wasted |
|----------|---------------------------|---------------|-----------|----------|
|        1 | Andaman & Nicobar Islands |          21.6 |      23.3 |     18.9 |
|        2 | Andhra Pradesh            |          31.9 |      31.4 |     17.2 |
|        3 | Assam                     |          36.4 |      46.5 |     13.7 |
|        4 | Bihar                     |          55.9 |      55.6 |     27.1 |
|        5 | Chandigarh                |          24.5 |      28.7 |     10.9 |
|        6 | Chhattisgarh              |          47.1 |      52.9 |     19.5 |
|        7 | Daman & Diu               |          26.7 |      23.4 |     24.1 |
|        8 | Dadar & Nagar Haveli      |          38.9 |      41.7 |     27.6 |
|        9 | Goa                       |          25   |      25.6 |     14.1 |
|       10 | Gujarat                   |          44.6 |      51.7 |     18.7 |
|       11 | Haryana                   |          39.6 |      45.7 |     19.1 |
|       12 | Karnataka                 |          37.6 |      43.7 |     17.6 |
|       13 | Madhya Pradesh            |          60   |      50   |     35   |
|       14 | Maharashtra               |          37   |      46.3 |     16.5 |
|       15 | Manipur                   |          22.2 |      35.6 |      9   |
|       16 | Meghalaya                 |          48.8 |      55.1 |     30.7 |
|       17 | Odisha                    |          40.7 |      45   |     19.6 |
|       18 | Punjab                    |          24.9 |      36.7 |      9.2 |
|       19 | Puducherry                |          22   |      23.7 |     23.6 |
|       20 | Rajasthan                 |          39.9 |      43.7 |     20.4 |
|       21 | Sikkim                    |          19.7 |      38.3 |      9.7 |
|       22 | Tamil Nadu                |          29.8 |      30.9 |     22.2 |
|       23 | Telangana                 |          28.5 |      28.1 |     18   |
|       24 | Tripura                   |          39.6 |      35.7 |     24.6 |
|       25 | Uttarakhand               |          38   |      44.4 |     18.8 |
|       26 | West Bengal               |          38.7 |      44.6 |     16.9 |

## Neonatal Mortality Rate as per Sample Registration Survey, 2013 and 2014

| S. No   | State/UTs         | 2013   | 2014   |
|---------|-------------------|--------|--------|
| 1       | Bihar             | 28     | 27     |
| 2       | Chhattisgarh      | 31     | 28     |
| 3       | Himachal Pradesh  | 25     | 25     |
| 4       | Jammu & Kashmir   | 29     | 26     |
| 5       | Jharkhand         | 26     | 25     |
| 6       | Madhya Pradesh    | 36     | 35     |
| 7       | Odisha            | 37     | 36     |
| 8       | Rajasthan         | 32     | 32     |
| 9       | Uttar Pradesh     | 35     | 32     |
| 10      | Uttarakhand       | -      | 26     |
| 11      | Arunachal Pradesh | -      | -      |
| 12      | Assam             | 27     | 26     |
| 13      | Manipur           | -      | -      |
| 14      | Meghalaya         | -      | -      |
| 15      | Mizoram           | -      | -      |
| 16      | Nagaland          | -      | -      |
| 17      | Sikkim            | -      | -      |
| 18      | Tripura           | -      | -      |
| 19      | Andhra Pradesh    | 25     | 26     |
| 20      | Goa               | -      | -      |
| 21      | Gujarat           | 26     | 24     |
| 22      | Haryana           | 26     | 23     |
| 23      | Karnataka         | 22     | 20     |
| 24      | Kerala            | 6      | 6      |
| 25      | Maharashtra       | 17     | 16     |
| 26      | Punjab            | 16     | 14     |
| 27      | Tamil Nadu        | 15     | 14     |
| 28      | Telangana         | -      | 25     |
| 29      | West Bengal       | 21     | 19     |
| 30      | A & N Islands     | -      | -      |
| 31      | Chandigarh        | -      | -      |
| 32      | D & N Haveli      | -      | -      |
| 33      | Daman & Diu       | -      | -      |
| 34      | Delhi             | 16     | 13     |
| 35      | Lakshadweep       | -      | -      |
| 36      | Puducherry        | -      | -      |
| India   | India             | 28     | 26     |