According to the Global Nutrition Report 2020 released on May 12, 2020, India is among 88 countries that are likely to miss global nutrition targets by 2025. The report says that India will miss targets for all four nutritional indicators for which there is data available — stunting among under-five children, anaemia among women of reproductive age, childhood overweight and exclusive breastfeeding.
- Underweight children: Between 2000 and 2016, underweight rates have decreased from 66.0% to 58.1% for boys and 54.2% to 50.1% in girls.
- Stunting: 37.9% of children under five are stunted and 20.8% are wasted, compared with the Asia average of 22.7% and 9.4% respectively.
- Anaemic: 1 in 2 women of reproductive age is anaemic .
Targets: In 2012, the World Health Assembly identified six nutrition targets for maternal, infant and young child nutrition to be met by 2025. These target require governments to reduce stunting by 40% in children under five and prevalence of anaemia by 50% among women in the age group of 19-49, ensure 30% reduction in low-birth weight and no increase in childhood overweight, increase the rate of exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months up to at least 50% and reduce and maintain childhood wasting to less than 5%.
About the Report: The Global Nutrition Report is a multi-stakeholder initiative, consisting of a Stakeholder Group, Independent Expert Group and Report Secretariat. The Global Nutrition Report was conceived following the first Nutrition for Growth Initiative Summit (N4G) in 2013 as a mechanism for tracking the commitments made by 100 stakeholders spanning governments, aid donors, civil society, the UN and businesses.
Source: Global Nutrition Report and The Hindu
