Lok Sabha Question No. 2060 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-12-21
Subject: Malnourishment Among Children and Women
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: RAJESH PANDEY, NISHIKANT  DUBEY, RAVINDRA KUMAR PANDEY, RAJU ALIAS DEVAPPA ANNA SHETTI, A.T. (NANA) PATIL

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN & CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2060

TO BE ANSWERED ON 21.12.2018

## MALNOURISHMENT AMONG CHILDREN AND WOMEN

2060.   SHRI RAJESH PANDEY:

SHRI NISHIKANT DUBEY:

SHRI RAVINDRA KUMAR PANDEY:

SHRI RAJU SHETTY:

SHRI A.T. NANA PATIL:

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

- (a) whether the Government is implementing National Child Health Programme and if so, the salient features of the programme along with the details thereof;
- (b) whether the cases of malnourishment among children and women have increased in the country specially in rural areas and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether  the  Government  has  conducted  any  study  to  identify  the  level  of  malnutrition among the children and women in rural and urban areas in the country, State/UT-wise including Maharashtra;
- (d) the  percentage  of  children  and  women  suffering  from  malnutrition  in  the  country, State/UT-wise including Maharashtra;
- (e) whether  the  percentage  of  malnourishment  in  women  and  children  has  not  declined despite various initiatives taken by the Government and if so, the reasons therefor; and
- (f) whether it is a fact that malnourished mothers give birth to malnourished children and if so, the action plan proposed by the Government to implement schemes effectively?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (DR. VIRENDRA KUMAR)

- (a): Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is implementing various Child Health Programmes at  national  level.  The  salient  features  of  these  programmes  along  with  the  details  are given in Annexure-1 .
- (b): As per the report of National Family Health Survey (NFHS) - 4 (2015-16), 35.7% children under 5 years of age are underweight and 38.4% are stunted indicating a reduction from the previous NFHS - 3 (2005-06), which reported 42.5% children under 5 years of age as underweight and 48%  stunted. Further, in the rural areas, 38.3%  children are underweight and 41.2% are stunted as per NFHS-4 report, which is also a reduction from the  prevalence  reported  under  NFHS-3,  viz.,  45.6%  children  underweight  and  50.7% stunted.

Among women (15-49 years of age), 22.9% are underweight which is a decline from  the  previous  NFHS-3  levels  which  reported  underweight  prevalence  to  be  35.5% among women. In the rural areas, 26.7% women (15-49 years) are underweight as per NFHS-4  which  is  reduction  from  the  previous  NFHS-3  levels  of  40.6%  women  being underweight.

- (c): Data  on  nutritional  indicators  is  captured  under  the  National  Family  Health  Surveys (NFHS) conducted periodically by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in the entire country including the State of Maharashtra. The latest round of the survey (NFHS-4) was conducted in 2015-16.
- (d): The  percentage  of  children  and  women  suffering  from  malnutrition  in  the  country, State/UT-wise including Maharashtra as per NFHS-4 is at Annexure-2.
- (e): The  prevalence  of  malnourishment  among  women  and  children  in  the  country  has declined in the country as per the report of the National Family Health Surveys conducted in 2005-06 and 2015-16 as stated above.
- (f): Yes,  Madam.  As  per  research  evidence,  malnourished  mothers  tend  to  give  birth  to malnourished  children.  In  order  to  address  this  problem,  this  Ministry  is  implementing schemes  like  Anganwadi  Services,  Scheme  for  Adolescent  Girls  and  Pradhan  Mantri Matru  Vandana  Yojna  under  the  Umbrella  Integrated  Child  Development  Services Scheme as direct targeted interventions. The problem of malnutrition is complex, multidimensional  and  inter-generational  in  nature  and  requires  convergence  of  various sectors. In order to ensure convergence of these nutrition related and those of health and other nutrition impacting schemes, the Government has set up POSHAN Abhiyaan which consists of a robust convergence action plan. POSHAN Abhiyaan aims to prevent and reduce prevalence of anaemia among women (15-49 years) and reduction in prevalence of low birth weight in the country in a time bound manner.

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## Statement referred to in reply to Part (a) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Q.No. 2060 for 21.12.2018

## Details of Child Health Programmes implemented by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is implementing various Child Health Programmes at national level. The salient features of these programmes along with the details are as follows:

-  Essential  newborn  care  is  provided  at  all  delivery  points  by  establishing  Maternal  and Child Health (MCH) Wings in high caseload facilities. For this purpose, Special Newborn Care  Units  (SNCU),  Newborn  Stabilization  Units  (NBSU)  and  Kangaroo  Mother  Care (KMC) units for care of sick and small babies are operationalized.
-  Home  Based  Newborn  Care  (HBNC)  is  provided  by  ASHAs  to  improve  child  rearing practices.
-  Home based Young Child Programme has been launched in April 2018 with provision of additional 5 home visits by ASHAs starting from 3 months of age till 15 months of age of the child.
-  Early initiation and exclusive breastfeeding for first six months and appropriate Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) practices are promoted under Mothers' Absolute Affection (MAA) programme.
-  Anemia Mukt Bharat (AMB) programme has been launched in April 2018 for preventing wide-spread anaemia among women, children and adolescents.
-  Vitamin A supplementation (VAS) for children till the age of 5 years.
-  National  De-worming  Day  is  implemented  as  a  fixed  day  strategy  to  administer Albendazole tablets to all the children in the age group of 1-19 years through the platform of AWCs and Schools.
-  Childhood diarrhoea control activities are undertaken during intensified diarrhoea control fortnights (IDCF) which is organized across the country.
-  Nutrition  Rehabilitation  Centres  (NRCs)  have  been  set  up  at  public  health  facilities  to treat  and  manage  the  children  with  Severe  Acute  Malnutrition  (SAM)  admitted  with medical complications.
-  Universal  Immunization  Programme  (UIP)  to  provide  vaccination  to  children  against diseases pan India and for diseases in selected States and UTs. 'Mission Indradhanush and Intensified Mission Indradhanush' was launched to fully immunize children who are either unvaccinated or partially vaccinated; those that have not been covered during the rounds of routine immunization for various reasons.
-  Name based tracking  of  mothers  and  children  till  two  years  of  age  (Mother  and  Child Tracking System) is done to ensure complete antenatal, intranatal, postnatal care and complete immunization as per schedule.
-  Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) for health screening, early detection of birth defects, diseases, deficiencies, development delays and early intervention services have been operationalized to provide comprehensive care to all the children in the age group of 0-18 years in the community.

## Statement referred to in reply to Part (d) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Q.No. 2060 for 21.12.2018

Prevalence of Malnutrition among Women and Children as per NFHS - 4 (2015-16)

| S.No   |                      | Children under 5 years   | Children under 5 years   | Women (15-49 years)       |
|--------|----------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|---------------------------|
| S.No   |                      | Underweight (%)          | Stunting (%)             | Chronic Energy Deficiency |
| 1      | A & N Islands        | 21.6                     | 23.3                     | 13.1                      |
| 2      | Andhra Pradesh       | 31.9                     | 31.4                     | 17.6                      |
| 3      | Arunachal Pradesh    | 19.4                     | 29.4                     | 8.5                       |
| 4      | Assam                | 29.8                     | 36.4                     | 25.7                      |
| 5      | Bihar                | 43.9                     | 48.3                     | 30.4                      |
| 6      | Chandigarh           | 24.5                     | 28.7                     | 13.3                      |
| 7      | Chhattisgarh         | 37.7                     | 37.6                     | 26.7                      |
| 8      | Dadra & Nagar Haveli | 38.9                     | 41.7                     | 28.7                      |
| 9      | Daman & Diu          | 26.7                     | 23.4                     | 12.9                      |
| 10     | Delhi                | 27                       | 31.9                     | 14.9                      |
| 11     | Goa                  | 23.8                     | 20.1                     | 14.7                      |
| 12     | Gujarat              | 39.3                     | 38.5                     | 27.2                      |
| 13     | Haryana              | 29.4                     | 34                       | 15.8                      |
| 14     | Himachal Pradesh     | 21.2                     | 26.3                     | 16.2                      |
| 15     | J&K                  | 16.6                     | 27.4                     | 12.1                      |
| 16     | Jharkhand            | 47.8                     | 45.3                     | 31.5                      |
| 17     | Karnataka            | 35.2                     | 36.2                     | 20.7                      |
| 18     | Kerala               | 16.1                     | 19.7                     | 9.7                       |
| 19     | Lakshadweep          | 23.6                     | 26.8                     | 13.5                      |
| 20     | Madhya Pradesh       | 42.8                     | 42                       | 28.4                      |
| 21     | Maharashtra          | 36                       | 34.4                     | 23.5                      |
| 22     | Manipur              | 13.8                     | 28.9                     | 8.8                       |
| 23     | Meghalaya            | 28.9                     | 43.8                     | 12.1                      |
| 24     | Mizoram              | 12.0                     | 28.1                     | 8.4                       |
| 25     | Nagaland             | 16.7                     | 28.6                     | 12.3                      |
| 26     | Odisha               | 34.4                     | 34.1                     | 26.5                      |
| 27     | Puducherry           | 22.7                     | 24.0                     | 11.2                      |
| 28     | Punjab               | 21.6                     | 25.7                     | 11.7                      |
| 29     | Rajasthan            | 36.7                     | 39.1                     | 27                        |
| 30     | Sikkim               | 14.2                     | 29.6                     | 6.4                       |
| 31     | Tamil Nadu           | 23.8                     | 27.1                     | 14.6                      |
| 32     | Telangana            | 28.4                     | 28.0                     | 22.9                      |
| 33     | Tripura              | 24.1                     | 24.3                     | 18.9                      |
| 34     | Uttar Pradesh        | 39.5                     | 46.3                     | 25.3                      |
| 35     | Uttarakhand          | 26.6                     | 33.5                     | 18.4                      |
| 36     | West Bengal          | 31.6                     | 32.5                     | 21.3                      |
|        | India                | 35.7                     | 38.4                     | 22.9                      |