Published on 17 Feb 2025
According to UNICEF, India is home to over 460 million children, which is one of the world’s largest child and adolescent populations. They suffer from wide ranges of health challenges indicated by high prevalence of malnutrition, wasting, stunting etc in Indian children.
State of health among children in India
|
Health indicator |
India’s performance |
|
Infant Mortality Rate |
✔ Reduced from 37 per 1000 live births in 2015 to 28 per 1000 live births in 2020. (Sample Registration System Bulletin) ✔ Neonatal Mortality Rate reduced to 20. |
|
Stunting |
✔ Reduced from 38.4% in 2015-16 to 35.5% in 2019-21. (NFHS-5) |
|
Wasting |
✔ Reduced from 21% in 2015-16 to 19.3% in 2019-21 (NFHS-5) ✔ Highest wasting rate as per Global Hunger Index, 2023. |
|
Malnourishment |
✔ As per Poshan Tracker, 14 lakh children are severely malnourished and 7.7% children are malnourished. ✔ 16.6% undernourished as per Global Hunger Index, 2023. |
|
Under 5 Mortality |
✔ Dropped to 32 per 1000 live births in 2020 with an annual decline of 8.6%. ✔ Higher for females (33) than male (31). |
Reason for poor health standard among Children in India
✔ Poverty: Many families in India cannot afford a healthy nutritious diet for their children due to food inflation, which affects the health of children.
● Example: As per the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report 2023, 74% Indians cannot afford a healthy diet as it costs around $3 per day per person.
✔ Inadequate immunization coverage: Immunization drives are difficult in rural and deserted regions due to transportation and financial constraints. This may expose children to diseases at a very young age.
● Example: According to UNICEF, the immunization cover is the lowest among the tribal population in India at around 56%.
✔ Poor care towards pregnant women: Lack of nutritious food and adequate medical attention to the pregnant women affects the health of the newborn baby.
● Example: IndiaSpend report suggests that only 16.7% women in rural India received full antenatal care (at least 4 antenatal care visits).
✔ Limited access to healthcare: The penetration of quality healthcare infrastructure and personnel into rural areas is low, which hinders timely health services.
● Example: As per Rural Healthcare Statistics, there is a shortfall of 81.6% paediatricians and 74.2% gynaecologists in rural India.
✔ Poor sanitation and hygiene: Lack of access to clean water and sanitation increases the risk of waterborne diseases, which spreads faster among children.
● Example: As per UNICEF, two-third of India's districts are affected by water depletion and waterborne diseases have an economic burden of $600 million a year.
✔ Exposure to pollution: Children in urban areas are increasingly exposed to polluted air causing respiratory health problems at a young age.
● Example: According to the State of Global Air report, more than 116000 infants died in India within a month of birth in 2019 due to air pollution - both indoor and outdoor.
✔ Lack of diet diversity: Dependence on staple foods alone, with little diversity towards fruits, vegetables and pulses creates nutritional deficiency. This occurs due to lack of awareness and high prices for nutritious food.
● Example: According to World Obesity Atlas 2023, in India there will be approximately 8% of the obese children globally by 2030 and by 2035 it will increase to 12%. This is mainly due to lack of diet diversity and unhealthy lifestyle.
Government initiatives to address poor health standard in children
✔ POSHAN 2.0 and Saksham Anganwadi: An Integrated Nutrition Support Programme for addressing the malnutrition in children, adolescent girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers. The programme has following components:
● Supplementary Nutrition Programme
● Early Childhood care and education
● Anganwadi Infrastructure
● Poshan Abhiyan
✔ India Newborn Action Plan: Make efforts towards attainment of single digit neonatal mortality rate and single digit stillbirth rate by 2030.
✔ Mission Indradhanush: Largest immunization programme globally, which covers more than 3 crore pregnant women and 2.6 crore children through Universal Immunization Programme.
✔ PM Poshan Shakti Nirman: For providing one hot cooked meal in government and government-aided schools.
✔ Janani Suraksha Yojana: For the promotion of institutional delivery among pregnant women especially women from weak socio-economic backgrounds.
Way forward
✔ Provide timely care to pregnant women: Should be made aware of timely antenatal hospital visits and diet to be followed during pregnancy period.
✔ Making nutritious food affordable: Distribution through PDS should also focus on nutritional security and diet diversity.
✔ Awareness programmes in school and local community: Regarding healthy food practices, healthy lifestyle and the need to maintain a healthy living environment.
Children are the best resources available to any nation and hence their health must be secured with utmost care. Proper implementation of existing schemes with increased community and private participation could see India move closer towards SDG-3 in the near future.
Social Justice
Health of children
Malnutrition
POSHAN 2.0
Saksham Anganwadi
IMR
General Studies Paper 2
Social Justice
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