BackMore than half of Indian children and women anemic: Survey
Child nutrition indicators showed a slight improvement at all-India level as stunting has declined from 38% to 36%, wasting from 21% to 19% and underweight from 36% to 32% at all India level
PremiumNew Delhi: More than half of Indian children and women, including pregnant women, are anemic, according to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) released on Wednesday.
“Anaemia among children and women continues to be a cause of concern. More than half of the children and women (including pregnant women) are anemic in all the phase-II States/UTs and all-India level compared to NFHS4, in spite of substantial increase in the composition of iron folic acid (IFA)tablets by pregnant women for 180 days or more," the union health ministry said in a statement.
The ministry released the factsheets of key indicators on population, reproductive and child health, family welfare, nutrition and others for India and 14 States/UTs (clubbed under Phase-II) of the 2019-21 National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5).
The States and UTs which were surveyed in the Phase-II are Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, NCT of Delhi, Odisha, Puducherry, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The findings of NFHS-5 in respect of 22 States & UTs covered in Phase-I were released in December, 2020.
The NFHS-5 survey work has been conducted in around 6.1 lakh sample households from 707 districts (as on March, 2017) of the country; covering724,115 women and 101,839 men to provide disaggregated estimates up to district level.
However, child nutrition indicators showed a slight improvement at all-India level as stunting has declined from 38% to 36%, wasting from 21% to 19% and underweight from 36% to 32% at all India level, the survey found. In all, in phase-II States/UTs situation has improved in respect of child nutrition but the change is not significant as drastic changes in respect of these indicators are unlikely in short span period, the survey showed.
“Exclusive breastfeeding to children under age 6 months has shown an improvement in all-India level from 55% in 2015-16 to 64% in 2019-21. All the phase-II States/UTs are also showing a considerable progress," the survey report said.
The survey also showed that fertility rates, an average number of children per woman, have further declined from 2.2 to 2.0 at the national level and all 14 States/UT’s ranging from 1.4 in Chandigarh to 2.4 in Uttar Pradesh. All Phase-II States have achieved replacement level of fertility (2.1) except Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh.
Overall contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) has increased substantially from 54% to 67% at all-India level and in almost all Phase-II States/UTs with an exception of Punjab. Use of modern methods of contraceptives has also increased in almost all States/UTs," the survey showed.
“Full immunization drive among children aged 12-23 months has recorded substantial improvement from 62% to 76% at all-India level.11out of 14 States/UTs has more than three-fourth of children aged 12-23 months with fully immunization and it is highest (90%) for Odisha," the report said.
“On comparing NFHS-4 and NFHS-5 data, the increase in full immunization coverage is observed to be expeditious in many states and UTs; More than50 per cent of Phase-II States/ UTs are sharing over 10 percentage points during the short span of 4 years. This can be attributed to the flagship initiative of Mission Indradhanush launched by the government since 2015," the report said.
Unlock a world of Benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and a personalized newsfeed – it's all here, just a click away! Login Now!
