Over 33 Lakh Children In India Malnourished. Maharashtra, Bihar, Gujarat Top List: Centre

The numbers were registered on the Poshan tracker app, which was developed earlier in 2020 as a governance tool for real-time monitoring of nutritional outcomes.

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New Delhi: The Women and Child Development (WCD) Ministry has in response to an RTI query said over 33 lakh children in the country are malnourished and added more than half of them fall in the severely malnourished category with Maharashtra, Gujarat and Bihar topping the list.

The ministry in response to an RTI query by PTI said the total 33.23 lakh is a compilation of data from 34 states and Union Territories.

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The numbers were registered on the Poshan tracker app, which was developed earlier in 2020 as a governance tool for real-time monitoring of nutritional outcomes.

There are 17,76,902 severely acute malnourished (SAM) children and 15,46,420 moderately acute malnourished (MAM) children as of October 14, 2021, the ministry estimates.

This has raised concerns that the Covid-19 pandemic could exacerbate the health and nutrition crisis among the poorest of the poor.

A 91 percent rise in the number of SAM children has been seen between November 2020 and October 14, 2021, which is up from 9.27 lakh to 17.76 lakh now, the PTI report said.

The number of SAM children, from six months to six years, identified earlier in 2020 was counted by 36 states and Union Territories and conveyed to the Central government.

The latest figures are through Poshan tracker where the numbers were directly entered by anganwadis and accessed by the Central government.

The age group of the children has, however, not been specified.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines SAM by very low weight-for-height or a mid-upper arm circumference less than 115 mm or by the presence of nutritional oedema. MAM, on the other hand, is defined as moderate wasting and/or mid-upper-arm circumference greater or equal to 115 mm and less than 125 mm.

The children suffering from SAM have very low weight for their height and are nine times more likely to die in case of diseases due to their weakened immune system, while those suffering from MAM are also at an increased risk of morbidity and mortality during childhood.

Maharashtra registered the highest number of malnourished children at 6.16 lakh with 1.57 lakh MAM children and 4.58 lakh SAM children, as per the RTI reply quoting the Poshan tracker,

Bihar is number two on the list with 4.75 lakh malnourished children (3.23 lakh MAM children and 1.52 lakh SAM children).

Gujarat registered the third highest number of such children at 3.20 lakh with 1.55 lakh MAM children and 1.65 lakh SAM children.

Asserting that the Covid pandemic has impacted nearly all socio-economic indicators negatively, Child Rights and You (CRY) CEO Puja Marwaha while responding to the numbers said this threatens to undo much of the progress made over the past decade.

“Services like ICDS (Integrated Child Development Scheme) and midday meals in schools have become irregular during the prolonged closure of schools. These have severely affected children living in multi-dimensional poverty disproportionately, since they have been largely dependent on these services to fulfil their rights and entitlements,” PTI quoted Marwaha as saying.

The CRY CEO further said the country will be unable to mitigate the loss caused due to the Covid-19 pandemic unless the challenges related to adequacy in budgetary allocations to secure nutrition security of children and bottlenecks in utilisation are addressed.

Meanwhile, Anupam Sibal, group medical director and senior paediatrician, Apollo Hospitals Group, said it is extremely important to recognise malnutrition early and to institute appropriate therapy to prevent worsening of malnutrition.

“We know that children who are malnourished have a greater risk of infections, have less energy and perform less than their genetic potential in school,” Sibal said.

“The management of malnutrition requires a holistic approach starting with adequate nutrition of pregnant and lactating ladies, exclusive breastfeeding for six months, focusing on appropriate weaning and balanced nutrition in the first few years of life,” he added.

Manish Mannan, head of department, paediatrics and neonatology, Paras Hospitals, on his part said that children with severe acute malnutrition need to be treated with specialised therapeutic diets alongside the diagnosis and management of complications during in-patient care.

“Nutrition counselling has long been used as an approach to MAM management in situations where caregivers may have access to affordable food, and knowledge of appropriate care practices is not a constraint,” Mannan said.

“This approach is predicated on the assumption that nutritious food is available, but also that caregivers do not have sufficient awareness of how to combine foods into appropriate diets for malnourished or at-risk children,” he added.