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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  Cuttack, Puri among top 10 districts with lowest level of stunting: NFHS
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Cuttack, Puri among top 10 districts with lowest level of stunting: NFHS

The number of districts with stunting levels greater than 40% was around 239

NFHS report, titled ‘Trends in Nutrition Outcomes, Determinants and Interventions in India 2006-16’, giving detailed analysis on child health nutrition, was released on Wednesday. Photo: Ramesh Pathania/MintPremium
NFHS report, titled ‘Trends in Nutrition Outcomes, Determinants and Interventions in India 2006-16’, giving detailed analysis on child health nutrition, was released on Wednesday. Photo: Ramesh Pathania/Mint

New Delhi: The National Family Health Survey 4 (NFHS) data shows that Cuttack and Puri in Odisha are among the top 10 districts of the country, showing the lowest levels of stunting. This is a major achievement for the state where stunting has been a major reason for child deaths.

According to a report by International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), which has considered the NFHS 4 survey for its findings, the prevalence of stunting in Cuttack and Puri was 15.3% and 16.1%, respectively, in 2016. The report, titled ‘Trends in Nutrition Outcomes, Determinants and Interventions in India 2006-16’, giving detailed analysis on child health nutrition, was released on Wednesday.

“In recent years, Odisha has shown considerable improvement in implementation of various region-specific problems regarding stunting," said Purnima Menon, senior research fellow at IFPRI.

Other states with districts among the top 10 districts with the lowest levels of stunting include Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Meghalaya. Kerala has five districts among the top ten—Ernakulam (12.4%), Pathanaamthitta (13.3%), Kollam (14.4%), Alappuzha (14.5%) and Idukki (15.1%).

As per UNICEF, stunting is defined as the percentage of children, aged 0 to 59 months, whose height for age is below minus two standard deviations (moderate and severe stunting) and minus three standard deviations (severe stunting) from the median of the WHO Child Growth Standards. It is associated with an under-developed brain, with long-lasting harmful consequences, including diminished mental ability and learning capacity, poor school performance in childhood, reduced earnings and increased risks of nutrition-related chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and obesity in future.

According to IFPRI’s report, India achieved improvements in stunting during 2006-2016, with a decline from 48% in 2006 to 38.4% in 2016 among children below five years of age.

Though figures at the national level have shown improvements, a majority of districts across India have a high stunting burden, with more than a third of children stunted in 439 districts. Only 29 districts across the country have stunting levels between 10% and 20% which is categorized as low prevalence of stunting. Most of these districts are in southern states.

The number of districts with stunting levels greater than 40% was around 239. Some of the 239 districts include Sitapur (56%), Gonda (56.9%), Siddharthnagar (57.9%) in Uttar Pradesh, and Yadgir (55%) and Koppal (55.8%) in Karnataka.

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Published: 05 May 2017, 11:48 AM IST
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