Malnutrition In Children In India

Among these half of the children under three years old are underweight.

Malnutrition in children in india. Low birth weight episode of diarrhoea within the last 6 months and the presence of developmental delay are often associated with malnutrition in most developing nations including india. According to the global nutrition report 2020 37 9 per cent of india s children under five years are stunted and 20 8 per cent are wasted a form of malnutrition where children are too thin for their height. India has unacceptably high levels child undernutrition with 38 4 percent of children stunted and 21 percent of children wasted nfhs 4 despite strong constitutional legislative policy plan and. Malnutrition in children occurs as a complex interplay among various factors like poverty maternal health illiteracy diseases like diarrhoea home environment dietary practices hand washing and other hygiene practices etc.

Malnutrition was the predominant risk factor for death in children younger than 5 years of age in every state of india in 2017 accounting for 68 2 95 ui 65 8 70 7 of the total under 5 deaths and the leading risk factor for health loss for all ages responsible for 17 3 16 3 18 2 of the total disability adjusted life years dalys. Due to the low social status of population their diet often lacks in both quality and quantity.