Malnutrition is not a direct cause of death among children under five years of age, however, it can increase morbidity and mortality by reducing resistance to infections. Malnourished children are more vulnerable than normal children to any infection.

The Government has accorded high priority to the issue of malnutrition and is implementing several schemes/programmes of different Ministries/Departments through States/UTs to address various aspects related to nutrition. This Ministry is implementing POSHAN Abhiyaan, Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana, Anganwadi Services and Scheme for Adolescent Girls under the Umbrella Integrated Child Development Services Scheme as direct targeted interventions to address the problem of malnutrition among children and women in all States/UTs of the country.

Further, the steps taken under the National Health Mission (NHM), a flagship programme of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, to address malnutrition inter alia, include promotion of appropriate Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) practices, Anaemia Mukt Bharat, Iron and Folic Acid (IFA) supplementation, de-worming, promotion of iodized salt, Vitamin-A supplementation, Mission Indradhanush to ensure high coverage of vaccination in children, conducting intensified diarrhoea control fortnights to control childhood diarrhoea, management of sick severely malnourished children at Nutrition Rehabilitation Centers, monthly Village Health and Nutrition Days, Home Based Newborn Care (HBNC) and Home Based Young Child care (HBYC) programmes and Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram.

The data on nutritional indicators is captured under the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) conducted by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The State-wise prevalence of malnutrition in children as per NFHS-4 (2015-16) is given below:

Prevalence of malnutrition among children under 5 years of age as per National Family Health Survey 4 (2015-16)

S. No	State/UTs	Underweight (%)	Stunting (%)
1	Bihar	43.9	48.3
2	Chhattisgarh	37.7	37.6
3	Himachal Pradesh	21.2	26.3
4	Jammu & Kashmir	16.6	27.4
5	Jharkhand	47.8	45.3
6	Madhya Pradesh	42.8	42.0
7	Odisha	34.4	34.1
8	Rajasthan	36.7	39.1
9	Uttar Pradesh	39.5	46.2
10	Uttarakhand	26.6	33.5
11	Arunachal Pradesh	19.4	29.3
12	Assam	29.8	36.4
13	Manipur	13.8	28.9
14	Meghalaya	28.9	43.8
15	Mizoram	12.0	28.1
16	Nagaland	16.7	28.6
17	Sikkim	14.2	29.6
18	Tripura	24.1	24.3
19	Andhra Pradesh	31.9	31.4
20	Goa	23.8	20.1
21	Gujarat	39.3	38.5
22	Haryana	29.4	34.0
23	Karnataka	35.2	36.2
24	Kerala	16.1	19.7
25	Maharashtra	36.0	34.4
26	Punjab	21.6	25.7
27	Telangana	28.3	28.0
28	Tamil Nadu	23.8	27.1
29	West Bengal	31.5	32.5
30	A & N Islands	21.5	23.3
31	Chandigarh	24.5	28.7
32	Dadra & Nagar Haveli	38.8	41.7
33	Daman & Diu	26.7	23.4
34	Delhi	27.0	31.9
35	Lakshadweep	23.6	26.8
36	Puducherry	22.0	23.7
Total		35.7	38.4

 

This information was given by the Minister of Women and Child Development, Smriti Zubin Irani, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.

 

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MM

 

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