Malnutrition among children and underweight women are the pressing health issues that India faces currently. There are more underweight women in India than in Sub-Saharan Africa, a report released by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) estimated.?
Among children below the age of five, malnutrition is a major death factor.
The report published in the British medical journal The Lancet, read, "The higher proportion of underweight women in the reproductive age group in India compared with sub-Saharan Africa has been suggested to contribute to a higher prevalence of low birth-weight in India, even though sub-Saharan Africa is poorer."
The chronic deficiency of energy among women of reproductive age was a manifestation of the long-standing problem of malnutrition in India, which also increases the risk of preterm birth and babies with low birth-weight.
BCCL
India needs a drastic improvement in the nutritional status of girls and women in the pre-conception period and during pregnancy.?
Malnutrition accounts for the most number of deaths among children below the age of five in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Assam and Rajasthan.
Low birth-weight was the largest contributor to malnutrition in children. The prevalence of low birth-weight was 21 percent in India in 2017, and ranged between 9 percent in Mizoram to 24 percent in Uttar Pradesh.
The report points that of the 1.04 million infants who died under the age of five years in 2017, 7,06,000 were cases of malnutrition.
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Only nine per cent of Indian children get proper nutrition in the age group 6 to 24 months, making malnutrition among the chronic problems facing the country today.?
There are several forms of malnutrition - stunting, low weight for age, wasting and anaemia. Multiple forms of malnutrition were observed, especially in Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh, which are ranked sixth and fifth among India¡¯s poorest states by per capita income.