lunes, 20 de mayo de 2019

Anaemia is a public health emergency that needs to be addressed immediately | The Indian Express

Written by Alok Kumar, Vedeika Shekhar|Updated: May 20, 2019 10:08:03 am

The writer is with the Niti Aayog

The writer is a Young Professional working in Women and Child Division, NITI Aayog. Views are personal.

Anaemia is a public health emergency that needs to be addressed immediately

Fortifying staples with essential nutrients holds the key in fight against anaemia. The daily consumption of iron rich dark green leafy vegetables has reduced from 64 per cent to 48 per cent of the population in the last decade.

anaemia, anaemia cases, India poverty, poverty rate India, National Food Security Act, Mid-day Meal Scheme, india health, india major diseases, anemia, anemia patients india, anaemia among children, indian express — In the decade between 2005-06 and 2015-16, stunting declined at the rate of 0.9 per cent per annum.

India has been able to dramatically reduce the number of people living in extreme poverty from 306 million people living on less than $1.90 (on a PPP basis) a day in 2011 to 48 million today. However, it is puzzling as to why the country has been unable to show a similar dynamism in its record against malnutrition. Despite major government interventions — including providing highly subsidised foodgrains to the poorest 67 per cent of the population under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), a free Mid-day Meal Scheme (MDM) that targets around 100 million students in government schools and a supplementary nutrition programme through the ICDS network — the country is home to the largest number of malnourished children in the world.