NEW DELHI: Stressing that malnutrition is not identified as a cause of infant and child mortality in India, the centre on Wednesday said the main reasons are due to diarrhoeal diseases, fever of unknown origin and injuries.
In a written reply in Rajya Sabha, Minister of State of Women and Children Savitri Thakur said, “malnutrition is not identified as a cause of infant and child mortality in India.”
Quoting the cause of death report released by the Sample Registration System (SRS) of the Registrar General of India (SRS-RGI), the minister said, the cause of death of children till four years of age in India are diarrhoeal diseases (4.3%), fever of unknown origin (4%), injuries (4.2%), ill-defined or cause unknown (9.8%), prematurity and low birth weight (30.7%), pneumonia (16.3%), birth asphyxia and birth trauma (9.8%), other non-communicable disease (8.4%), congenital anomalies (5.8%), Sepsis (3.9%) etc.
The minister said to address the challenge of malnutrition, Anganwadi services, Poshan Abhiyan and Scheme for Adolescent girls (14-18 years, in Aspirational Districts and North-Eastern region) have been subsumed under the umbrella Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Mission Poshan 2.0.
The mission is being implemented across the country, including tribal and remote areas.
The mission has adopted a multi-sectoral approach involving dimensions of food, health, water, sanitation and education by establishing cross-cutting convergence amongst more than 18 Ministries/Departments.
Supplementary nutrition is provided to children (6 months to 6 years), pregnant women, lactating mothers and adolescent Girls (14-18 years) as per nutrition norms (revised in 2023) in Schedule-II of the National Food Security Act, 2013 which are based on the principles of diet diversity and recommend provision of quality protein and 7 essential micronutrients.
Fortified rice is provided, and emphasis is laid on the use of millet to meet the requirements of micro-nutrients among women and children.
She also said that the Ministries of Women and Child Development and Health and Family Welfare have jointly released the protocol for Management of Malnutrition in children to address acute malnutrition in children.
About two lakh Anganwadi Centres have been approved to be upgraded as Saksham Anganwadis with better infrastructure for improved nutrition delivery and for imparting early childhood care and development under the Mission.
The PM-JANMAN Mission launched by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs aims for targeted development of 75 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) residing in 18 states and a UT.
Thakur said this mission focuses on 11 critical interventions related to nine key ministries including the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
She said as on date, a total of 2500 Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) have been approved for construction under the Mission. 178 AWCs have been approved for construction in Maharashtra.
The Ministry has introduced Poshan Tracker, an ICT tool, for monitoring and tracking of supplementary nutrition delivery at Anganwadi Centers (AWCs) and beneficiaries.