HYDERABAD: The Unicef in its recently released State of the World’s Children 2019 report raised alarm over the high prevalence of malnutrition and related effects, including stunting, wasting and underweight among children. The issue is severe in Telangana too, as 29.3 per cent children suffer from stunting in the State, 17.9 per cent suffer from wasting and 30.8 per cent of the children are underweight, according to the Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (CNNS) undertaken by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare with support from Unicef.
Also, Telangana was found to be among top three states with high prevalence of low Body Mass Index(BMI) among kids aged 5-9 years at 28 per cent.
Dietary diversity, which means availability of all major food groups in a meal, is important for ensuring that a child does not suffer from malnutrition or its effects. However, dietary diversity is one of the lowest in TS. A shocking finding in CNNS report is that only 13.2 per cent children aged 6-23 months in TS consume meals with minimum dietary diversity, which is meal from food consisting four or more food groups and only six percent of kids consume iron-rich foods.
Another figure which highlights poor quality diets being consumed in TS by children is that only 30.4 per cent of children aged 2-4 years in the State consume Vitamin A rich food and vegetables, which is second lowest in the country. As a result, the State falls in the category of ‘Severe health problem’ states in the country.
Dr Subbarao M Gavaravarapu, senior scientist at the NIN said: “India has enough per capita availability of fruits, vegetables and milk. Unfortunately, per capita consumption is very low. Dietary diversity in is hampered by affordability, availability, acceptability and accommodation, all of which need to be tackled.”