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| Photo: Mohd Wasif |
“We are surprised to note that in this modern era of information technology,
there is no recent official data on malnutrition.”
“What is available is
seven years old and outdated...National Family Health Survey III data of
2005-2006,” the panel said.
The Committee on Estimates tabled its report titled 'Malnutrition and Infants
in Mothers' in Parliament this week, in which it highlighted the absence of
latest data on child health.
“Malnutrition has been recognised as a major threat to social and economic development
and casts an adverse impact on children, adults, women and the entire workforce
of the country,” the panel has said.
It said the Ministry of Health should have reduced periodicity of NFHS, which
used to be held at a gap of six years, much earlier.
“It is only now that the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has proposed to
conduct NFHS IV and also decided to slash the periodicity of NFHS to three
years,” the panel said.
It also pulled up the government for not computerising anganwadi centres in villages and habitation connected by broadband and internet and ensure real time data flow for nutrition monitoring across India.
The panel said it was disappointed to note that the aim of the UPA's flagship National Rural Health Mission to bring down infant mortality rate to less than 30 per 1000 live births by 2011-12 has not yet been achieved.
The IMR remains high at 44 per 1000 live births as of October 2012, it said.
Based on the available data, the committee has expressed concern that 59 per cent children under the age of five years are stunted and 3.3 per cent face severe wasting in the 100 focus districts which ranked the lowest on childhood development index in six states.
These states are Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
It also pulled up the government for not computerising anganwadi centres in villages and habitation connected by broadband and internet and ensure real time data flow for nutrition monitoring across India.
The panel said it was disappointed to note that the aim of the UPA's flagship National Rural Health Mission to bring down infant mortality rate to less than 30 per 1000 live births by 2011-12 has not yet been achieved.
The IMR remains high at 44 per 1000 live births as of October 2012, it said.
Based on the available data, the committee has expressed concern that 59 per cent children under the age of five years are stunted and 3.3 per cent face severe wasting in the 100 focus districts which ranked the lowest on childhood development index in six states.
These states are Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
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