Lok Sabha Question No. 1097 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-02-07
Subject: State of the World’s Children Report
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Uttam Kumar Nalamada Reddy

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN & CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1097 TO BE ANSWERED ON 07.02.2020

## STATE OF THE WORLD'S CHILDREN REPORT

## 1097. SHRI UTTAM KUMAR REDDY NALAMADA:

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

- (a) whether  the  Government  has  taken  note  of  therecent  'State  of  the  World`s Children' report published by the UNICEF stating that 69 per cent of deaths of children  below  the  age  of  five  were  due  to  malnutrition  and  if  so,  the  details thereof;
- (b) the number of deaths caused due to malnutrition during the last five years;
- (c) whether the POSHAN Abhiyan is failing to achieve improvement rates required to achieve the 2022 targets for reduction in cases of stunting, anaemia and under weight births; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

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

(a) & (b) Malnutrition is not the direct cause of death among children under five years of age.  It  can  increase  morbidity  and  mortality  by  reducing  resistance  to  infections. Malnourished  children  are  more  vulnerable  to  any  infection  than  normal  children. However, the overall under five mortality rate has reduced from 74.3 (NFHS-3) to 49.7 (NFHS-4) deaths per thousand live births.

(c)  &  (d)  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 06  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. As  per  the  recent  report  of  Comprehensive  National  Nutrition  Survey  (CNNS) (2016-18), the prevalence of stunting and anaemia among children is 34.7% and 40.5% respectively,  which  indicates  a  reduction  when  compared  to  the  levels  reported  by NFHS-4, which reported 38.4% children as stunted and 58.5% having anaemia.

Further,  as  per  the  National  Family  Health  Survey  (NFHS-4),  18.2%  children were  born  with  low  birth  weight  as  compared  to  21.5%  reported  under  NFHS-3  and 53.1% women (*15-49 years) were anaemic as per NFHS-4, which is a reduction from the  previous  NFHS-3  (2005-06),  which  reported  55.3%  being  anaemic  in  this  age group.

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