One-third of world’s stunted children live in India: report

Forty-six million children in India are stunted because of malnutrition and 25 million more defined as ‘wasted’.

A major study published warned of a malnutrition crisis in almost every country in the world with India holding about one-third of the world’s burden for stunting.

Forty-six million children in India are stunted because of malnutrition and 25.5 million more are defined as “wasted” – meaning they do not weigh enough for their height, according to the Global Nutrition Report 2018.

Worldwide, 150.8 million children are stunted and 50.5 million are “wasted”, the report said.

Asia is one of the hardest-hit areas when it comes to malnutrition although the region experienced the largest reduction in stunting from 2000 to 2017 – from 38 percent to 23 percent.

In India, high rates of malnutrition lead to anaemia, low birth rates, and delayed development – perpetuated from generation to generation.

Malnutrition is linked to mortality, morbidity, brain/cognitive development, and overall physical growth of a child. A malnourished child is vulnerable to infections and many life-threating diseases.

Of the three countries that are home to almost half (47.2 percent) of all stunted children, two are in Asia: India (46.6 million) and Pakistan (10.7 million).

Researchers behind the Global Nutrition Report, which looked at 140 countries, said the problems called for a critical change in the response to this global health threat.

The Global Nutrition Report is an independently produced annual analysis of the state of the world’s nutrition.

‘Stunted and wasted’

The Global Nutrition Report 2018 found while malnutrition rates are falling globally, their rate of decrease is not fast enough to meet the internationally agreed Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) to end all forms of malnutrition by 2030.

Apart from children’s diets, the report flagged up gender inequality, early child-bearing, open defecation, education, and economic status as influential factors in India’s malnutrition crisis.

Despite available data, progress on tackling malnutrition is “simply not good enough”, according to the report.

Globally none of the countries with sufficient data is on course to meet all nine targets on malnutrition. India is not set to meet any of them, the report said.

Efforts have been made to ensure children are breastfed and get nutritious food in the crucial first two years of life and to improve the water they drink and sanitation in their homes.