The Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare unveiled the fifth National Family Health Survey (NFHS) over the weekend. The survey, which was conducted after a gap of about three years, was released for only 22 states and Union territories. It includes big states such as Maharashtra, Bihar, and West Bengal. An alarming finding from the latest NFHS sheds light on child nutrition.
NFHS 5 findings show a rise in child malnutrition levels. The share of children who were stunted increased in 13 states, while the share of children who had low weight for their height increased in 12 states. The share of underweight and overweight children also increased in 16 and 20 states, respectively. The survey also reported an increased share of men and women who were overweight or obese. Share of obese men increased in 19 of the 22 states and Union territories for which the data was available.
The share of obese women increased in 16. The share of obese women increased the most in Karnataka, by 6.8 percentage points, and the share of obese men increased the most in Jammu and Kashmir, by 11.1 percentage points. To be sure, the share of underweight men and women decreased in this period in most states. To top things, the share of Indians with anemia also increased between the latest two rounds of the survey in a majority of the states. States like Assam saw a very significant rise of anemic people, with the share of women increased by 20 percentage points. The share of anemic men and women was the highest in West Bengal, while anemic children topped in Gujarat.
