THE FINDINGS OF ONE OF THE LARGEST nutrition surveys ever conducted in the country on the shifting conditions of undernutrition, over-nutrition, and obesity expose the disconnect between the one-sided and much-eulogized India growth story and the abysmal state of nutrition and health of children and adolescents. It is not surprising that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)led government, which makes a virtue of almost every programme conducted under its regime in comparison with previous regimes, has chosen to gloss over the findings of the largest-ever survey commissioned by it. The findings clearly are not an election issue for the government; ironically, neither has it been for the opposition.
The Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (CNNS), commissioned by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)government after theNational Statistical Commission approved the survey’s design in 2016, was conducted from 2016 to 2018. Led by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and done in collaboration with the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), the CNNS has findings that corroborate the results of the National Family Health Surveys (NFHS 3 and 4) with respect to data on nutrition status and morbidity among children. It is apparent from the results that little has substantively changed in terms of nutritional status for the children of the poor even as a burgeoning category of lifestyle-related diseases has emerged. However, the government’s focus continues to be on “eating right” and behavioral patterns, oblivious to the fact that both are a function of basic access to food and social entitlements.
In terms of sample size, the CNNS is far bigger than the NFHS and includes preschool children, schoolgoing children and adolescents covering geographically, socially and economically diverse population cohorts.
CHRONIC MALNUTRITION
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