Lok Sabha Question No. 3250 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-03-13
Subject: Regional Disparity in the Prevalence of Malnutrition
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Balubhau (Alias Suresh Narayan) Dhanorkar, Kani K. Navas

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN & CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3250

TO BE ANSWERED ON 13.03.2020

## REGIONAL DISPARITY IN THE PREVALENCE OF MALNUTRITION

3250.  SHRI BALUBHAU ALIAS SURESHNARAYAN DHANORKAR: SHRI K. NAVASKANI:

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

- (a) whether the level of malnutrition among women in certain areas is higher than other parts of the country and if so, the details thereof and the reasons there for; and
- (b) if so, the details thereof along with the schemes being implemented/proposed to be implemented by the Government to tackle this problem?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)

(a) to (b)  As per NFHS-4, 22.9% women (15-49 years) are underweight (Body Mass Index  <18.5  kg/m 2 )  which  is  a  reduction  from  the  previous  NFHS-3  levels  which reported  35.5%  women  (15-49  years)  as  underweight.However,  the  prevalence  of malnutrition  varies  across  States/UTs.  The  States/UTs  with  higher  prevalence  of underweight than the National average are Jharkhand, Bihar, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Assam, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. The State-wise details are at Annexure.

Under-nutrition is a complex and multi-dimensional issue, affected mainly by a number  of  generic  factors  including  poverty,  inadequate  food  consumption  due  to access  and  availability  issues,  inequitable  food  distribution,  improper  maternal  infant and  child  feeding  and  care  practices,  inequity  and  gender  imbalances,  poor  sanitary and  environmental  conditions;  and  restricted  access  to  quality  health,  education  and social care services.

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 various aspects related to nutrition. This Ministry is implementing Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana  Yojana, Anganwadi  Services and Scheme  for Adolescent Girls under the Umbrella Integrated Child Development Services Scheme (ICDS) as direct targeted interventions to address the problem of malnutrition among women in the country.

Further,  the  Government  has  set  up  POSHAN  Abhiyaan  on  18.12.2017.  The goals of POSHAN Abhiyaan are to achieve improvement in nutritional status of Children from  0-6  years,  Adolescent  Girls,  Pregnant  Women  and  Lactating  Mothers  in  a  time bound manner with fixed targets as under:

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|   S.No. | Objective                                                                                          | Target   |
|---------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------|
|       1 | Prevent and reduce Stunting in children (0- 6 years)                                               | @2%p.a.  |
|       2 | Prevent and reduce under-nutrition (underweight prevalence) in children (0-6 years)                | @2%p.a.  |
|       3 | Reduce the prevalence of anaemia among young Children(6-59 months)                                 | @3%p.a.  |
|       4 | Reduce the prevalence of anaemia among Women and Adolescent Girls in the age group of 15-49 years. | @3%p.a.  |
|       5 | Reduce Low Birth Weight (LBW).                                                                     | @2%p.a.  |

The Abhiyaan aims to reduce malnutrition in the country in a phased manner, through a lifecycle approach, by adopting a synergised and result oriented approach. The Abhiyaan has mechanisms for timely service delivery and a robust monitoring as well as intervention infrastructure. The major activities undertaken under this Abhiyaan are  ensuring  convergence  with  various  other  programmes;  Information  Technology enabled Common  Application Software for strengthening service delivery and interventions;  Community  Mobilization  and  Awareness  Advocacy  leading  to  Jan Andolan  to  educate  the  people  on  nutritional  aspects;  Capacity  Building  of  Frontline Functionaries, incentivizing States/ UTs for achieving goals etc.

Further  steps  taken  under  the  National  Health  Mission  (NHM),  a  flagship programme of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, to address malnutrition inter alia include  Anaemia  Mukt  Bharat,  Iron  and  Folic  Acid  (IFA)  supplementation,  calcium supplementation,  promotion  of  iodized  salt,  Mission  Indradhanush  to  ensure  high coverage of vaccination in children, monthly Village Health and Nutrition Days, etc.

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Annexure

Statement  referred  in  reply  of  the  Lok  Sabha  Unstarred  Question  No.  3250  for answer  on  13.03.2020 raised by Regional Disparity in the Prevalence of Malnutrition

Prevalence  of  Underweight  among  Women  (BMI  <18.5  Kg/m 2 )  as  per  NFHS-3 (2005-06) and NFHS-4 (2015-16)

| S. No.   | State/UT           | NFHS-3   |   NFHS-4 |
|----------|--------------------|----------|----------|
|          | India              | 35.6     |     22.9 |
| 1        | Jharkhand          | 43       |     31.6 |
| 2        | Bihar              | 45.1     |     30.5 |
| 3        | Dadra Nagar Haveli | -        |     28.7 |
| 4        | Madhya Pradesh     | 41.7     |     28.4 |
| 5        | Gujarat            | 36.3     |     27.2 |
| 6        | Rajasthan          | 36.7     |     27   |
| 7        | Chhattisgarh       | 43.4     |     26.7 |
| 8        | Odisha             | 41       |     26.5 |
| 9        | Assam              | 36.5     |     25.7 |
| 10       | Uttar Pradesh      | 36       |     25.3 |
| 11       | Maharashtra        | 36.2     |     23.5 |
| 12       | Telangana          | -        |     22.9 |
| 13       | West Bengal        | 39.1     |     21.3 |
| 14       | Karnataka          | 35.5     |     20.8 |
| 15       | Tripura            | 36.9     |     19   |
| 16       | Uttarakhand        | 30       |     18.4 |
| 17       | Andhra Pradesh     | 33.5     |     17.6 |
| 18       | Himachal Pradesh   | 29.9     |     16.2 |
| 19       | Haryana            | 31.3     |     15.8 |
| 20       | Delhi              | 14.8     |     14.8 |
| 21       | Goa                | 27.9     |     14.7 |
| 22       | Tamil Nadu         | 28.4     |     14.6 |
| 23       | Lakshadweep        | -        |     13.5 |
| 24       | Chandigarh         | -        |     13.3 |
| 25       | Andaman & Nicobar  | -        |     13.1 |
| 26       | Daman & Diu        | -        |     12.9 |
| 27       | Nagaland           | 17.4     |     12.3 |
| 28       | Jammu & Kashmir    | 24.6     |     12.1 |
| 29       | Meghalaya          | 14.6     |     12.1 |
| 30       | Punjab             | 18.9     |     11.7 |
| 31       | Puducherry         | -        |     11.3 |
| 32       | Kerala             | 18       |      9.7 |
| 33       | Manipur            | 14.8     |      8.8 |
| 34       | Arunachal Pradesh  | 16.4     |      8.5 |
| 35       | Mizoram            | 14.4     |      8.4 |
| 36       | Sikkim             | 11.2     |      6.4 |