Central Idea

• A troubling statistic in the fifth National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) data, conducted in 2019-21, is not well-known. Going without food for an entire day at this critical period of a child’s development raises serious concerns related to severe food insecurity.

Statistics from the NFHS-5 data

• Zero-food: Among mothers with a child between ages 6-23 months, 18% reported that their child did not eat any food whatsoever (“zero-food”) in the 24 hours preceding the survey. The zero-food prevalence was 30% for infants aged 6-11 months, 13% among 12-17 months old, and 8% among 18-23 months old.
• Zero-protein: More than 80% of children in the age group of 6-23 months had not consumed any protein-rich foods for an entire day (“zero-protein”). Close to 40% of children in the age group of 6-23 months did not eat any grains (roti, rice, etc.) for an entire day.
• Zero-milk: Six out of 10 children in the age group of 6-23 months do not consume milk or dairy of any form every day (“zero-milk”).

The current measures for undernutrition

• Stunting: It is a measure of chronic malnutrition, where children are too short for their age. It is determined by comparing a child’s height with the World Health Organization (WHO) child growth standards.
• Wasting: It is a measure of acute malnutrition, where children have a low weight for their height. It is determined by comparing a child’s weight with the WHO child growth standards.
• Underweight: It is a measure of both chronic and acute malnutrition, where children have a low weight for their age. It is determined by comparing a child’s weight with the WHO child growth standards.

Limitations of current measures of undernutrition

• Anthropometric measures: The assessment of the extent of nutritional deprivation among young children in India has relied on measures of anthropometric failure such as the percentage of children short for their age (stunting) or weighing less given their height (wasting), compared to a reference population. These measures are, at best, proxies suggesting plausible overall deficiencies in the child’s environment, without any guidance on the specific nature of the deficiencies. They do not provide insight into the specific food groups that are lacking in the child’s diet.
• Multifactorial nature: Given the multifactorial nature of what causes stunting or wasting among children, it is challenging for any single ministry or department of the Government of India to take responsibility for designing, implementing and monitoring policies to reduce undernutrition among children.
• Sensitivity: The sensitivity of the stunting prevalence to what population reference is being used makes it problematic as a policy metric for creating and evaluating the effectiveness of current programs and interventions.
• Lack of data: The fact that we do not know what India eats highlights a core deficiency in data related to food and dietary consumption. This limits the ability to design effective policies and programs to improve nutritional security among Indians.

Facts for prelims

Calorie intake recommendations by WHO

• According to the World Health Organisation, at six months of age, 33 per cent of the daily calorie intake is expected to come from food. This proportion increases to 61 per cent at 12 months of age.
• The recommended calorie percentages mentioned here are the minimum amount that should come from food.
• It is presumed that the child obtains the remaining calories through on-demand breastfeeding, meaning the child is breastfed whenever they need it throughout the day and night, and not solely when the mother is able to provide it.
• Consequently, the percentage of food-sourced calories only increases further when a child cannot receive breast milk when needed.

What is the need for Poshan 2.0?

• Achieving SDG 2: Poshan 2.0 is a flagship program that aims to achieve SDG 2, which aims to end hunger and ensure year-round access to safe, nutritious, and sufficient food by 2030.
• Targeting maternal and child nutrition: Poshan 2.0 focuses on food-based initiatives, including its flagship supplementary nutrition program service as mandated by the 2013 National Food Security Act, to target maternal and child nutrition.
• Developing food-based metrics: To effectively monitor and assess the performance of Poshan 2.0, there is an immediate need to develop appropriate food-based metrics to measure the extent of food insecurity among Indian households.
• Improving nutritional security: The goal of Poshan 2.0 is to ensure affordable access to sufficient quantity and quality of nutritionally diverse food, with a special and immediate focus on India’s youngest children to improve nutritional security among Indians.
• Establishing routine dietary and nutritional assessments: A national effort to establish routine dietary and nutritional assessments for the entire population is the need of the hour to measure the availability, accessibility, and affordability of nutritious food, especially for disadvantaged and vulnerable populations such as young children, and constitute the foundation for any evidence-based policy to end hunger and improve nutritional security among Indians.

Way ahead

• Elevating food intake among young children to be of primary importance, as opposed to being referred to as “complementary” in policies and guidelines related to maternal, infant and young child nutrition.
• Extending the 24-hour recall questions on consumption of various food items to the population of children under five years to better understand food security for all populations in India.
• Developing appropriate food-based metrics to effectively monitor and assess the performance of Mission Poshan 2.0.
• Establishing routine dietary and nutritional assessments for the entire population to measure the availability, accessibility and affordability of nutritious food, especially for disadvantaged and vulnerable populations such as young children.
• Consider a strategic initiative led by the Prime Minister’s Office aimed at eliminating food insecurity in India and ensuring affordable access to sufficient quantity and quality of nutritionally diverse food, with a special and immediate focus on India’s youngest children.

Conclusion

• Given the urgency of the situation and the critical need for prompt action to address the issue of hunger and malnutrition among Indians, it is recommended that India takes inspiration from the United States. Recently, the US launched a high-level initiative aimed at ending hunger by 2030, which could offer valuable insights and guidance to India’s efforts in this direction.

Mains Question

Q. Statistic in the fifth National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) data on hunger and malnutrition is troubling. In this backdrop discuss the need for Poshan 2.0 for India.

Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your personal mentor for UPSC 2024 | Schedule your FREE session and get the Prelims prep Toolkit!

Also Read:

Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024

Attend Now