Child malnutrition is a chronic problem and a longstanding challenge for the public administration of India. The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) of 2019-2020 found that Maharashtra was one of the states where the condition of the children’s health was only getting worse by the day.
The survey reported that 35.2% children under the age of 5 years were stunted; compared to 34.4% in 2015-16. 68.9% Children aged 6-59 months were anaemic compared to 53.8% in 2015-16.
All these numbers indicate the severity of the problem of malnourishment in children.
Despite decades of investment to tackle this malaise, India’s child malnutrition rates are still one of the most alarming in the world. In the 2021 Global Hunger Index, India ranks 101st out of the 116 countries.
Since 2000, India has made substantial progress, but there are still areas of concern, particularly regarding child nutrition. India’s GHI score has decreased from a 2000 GHI score of 38.8 points—considered alarming—to a 2021 GHI score of 27.5—considered serious. The proportion of undernourished in the population and the under-five child mortality rate are now at relatively low levels. While child stunting has seen a significant decrease—from 54.2 percent in 1998–1999 to 34.7 percent in 2016–2018—it is still considered very high. At 17.3 percent—according to the latest data—India has the highest child wasting rate of all countries covered in the GHI. This rate is slightly higher than it was in 1998–1999, when it was 17.1 percent.
Nutrition has a large influence on health and is intricately involved in development and normal functioning of the human body, thus it has the potential to affect both physical health and mental well-being.
Well-being, defined as ‘the state of being or doing well in life’ can have major consequences for health and social outcomes, and can have a direct relationship to what we consume and eat.
More than 50% of all mental health disorders emerge before the age of 14 years. This sets the premise for immediate attention to nourish the children at an early age for ensuring their overall health and wellbeing.
In Indian culture, Breakfast is said to be the most important meal of the day.
Breakfast is actually a great way to give the body the refuelling it needs. Kids who eat breakfast tend to live healthier lives and are more likely to be physically active — two great ways to help maintain an active lifestyle.
Skipping breakfast can make kids feel tired, restless, or irritable. In the morning, their bodies need to refuel for the day ahead. Children if they’re in school with an empty stomach can hardly pay attention to what is being taught in the classroom. Lack of attention means lack of growth opportunities. Their mood and energy can drop by midmorning if they don’t eat something for breakfast. The lack of nutrition due to skipped breakfast can mean lack of normal physical and psychological development.
To counter this gap between knowledge and nutrition, Akshaya Chaitanya, an NGO in Mumbai led by Hare Krishna Movement, launched the Bal Shiksha Ahara programme – a free breakfast initiative primarily concentrated on providing hot and nutritious breakfast to the underprivileged children attending Municipal Schools in Mumbai across diverse mediums like English, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati and Urdu.
With a vision to make Mumbai, hunger-free, this is the first step towards achieving a considerable improvement in the health and wellbeing of vulnerable children in the society who deserve to be well fed as they are the future and they need to be available to optimum nutrition, knowledge as well as equal opportunities as any other privileged child.