Question : Malnutrition Among Women

(a) whether the incidence of malnutrition among women is higher as compared to men and if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor;
(b) whether the incidence of malnourishment among children is largely under reported in many parts of the country and if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor;
(c) whether the faulty methods employed to diagnose malnutrition has led to poor detection of cases of malnutrition and if so, the details thereof; and
(d) the details of efforts made by the Government to reduce malnutrition among women and children in the country?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
(DR. VIRENDRA KUMAR)

(a): As per the recent report of National Family Health Survey (NFHS) – 4 conducted by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in 2015-16, prevalence of undernutrition among women is 22.9% whereas among men it is 20.2%.

Under-nutrition is a complex and multi-dimensional issue, affected mainly by a number of generic factors including poverty, inadequate food consumption due to access and availability issues, inequitable food distribution, improper maternal infant and child feeding and care practices, inequity and gender imbalances, poor sanitary and environmental conditions; and restricted access to quality health, education and social care services.

(b) & (c): Data on nutritional indicators is captured under the National Family Health Surveys conducted periodically by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, with International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) being the nodal agency for conducting the surveys using a standardized methodology.

(d): 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 several schemes and programs like Anganwadi Services, Scheme for Adolescent Girls and Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojna under the Umbrella Integrated Child Development Services Scheme as direct targeted interventions to address the problem of malnutrition in the country. Government has also set up POSHAN Abhiyaan, which aims to prevent and reduce prevalence of stunting, underweight and anaemia among children (0-6 years), prevalence of anaemia among women (15-49 years) and reduction in prevalence of low birth weight in the country in a time bound manner.

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