NFHS-6 and Child Nutrition in India

NFHS-6 and Child Nutrition in India

Why in News

• The recently released NFHS-6 report presents a mixed progress card for India’s child nutrition. It offers reasons to cheer while sending clear signals for urgent course correction.

Key Findings: Stunting Decline and Immunisation Gains

• Stunting (children under five) declined from 35.5% to 29.3%, a modest but welcome gain.
• Gains in child nutrition are driven by better healthcare access, immunisation and maternal education.
• Wasting levels show no significant change except in severe forms.
• Institutional births have reached 90% with public health facilities accounting for 58% of births.
• 91% of deliveries were attended by skilled medical personnel.
• 87% of children between 12 and 23 months are now fully vaccinated.
• High vaccination coverage reflects strong outreach by ASHA, Anganwadi workers and ANMs.

Challenges: Poor Feeding Practices and Maternal Time Poverty

• Poor Feeding Practices:
  • Only 50% of newborns are breastfed within the first hour of birth.
  • Only 15% of children between 6 and 23 months receive an adequate diet.
  • About 60% of children between 6 and 8 months receive solid or semi-solid food.
  • Delay in annaprasana — complementary feeding ritual performed between 6 and 12 months — results in growth faltering.
  • Feeding practices and access to quality diets remain the weakest links in India’s nutrition story.
• Maternal Time Poverty:
  • About 30% of women engaged in paid work in the past 12 months, significantly underestimating their real work burden.
  • Women in informal economies perform unpaid farm labour, livestock care and domestic chores simultaneously.
  • In the absence of crèches, infants are left with older siblings — usually girls — impacting both breastfeeding and complementary feeding.
  • Maternal time poverty is a growing and under-explored determinant of child malnutrition in India.

Concern: The Processed Food Trap

• Households are spending less on cereals and more on dairy, processed foods and beverages.
• Spending diversity creates an illusion of nutritional adequacy which is not the same as a healthy diet.
• A nutritious diet including pulses, millets, fruits, vegetables and animal foods is unaffordable for many.
• Processed foods are easily available, ready to eat and sold in affordable small packs making them more accessible.
• ICMR-NIN food-based dietary guidelines are not being followed by a sizeable population section.

Way Forward: First 1,000 Days, POSHAN and Frontline Workers

• First 1,000 Days Priority:
  • The first 1,000 days — from pregnancy to a child’s second birthday — are the most critical window for healthy development.
  • Most brain growth occurs in the first five years making early nutrition interventions irreversible in impact.
  • Prevention of growth faltering must receive greater priority over rehabilitation of already malnourished children.
  • Disaggregated data for the 0-2 age group — currently unavailable — must be collected urgently.
• POSHAN Abhiyaan Reform:
  • POSHAN Abhiyaan currently focuses on rehabilitation of severely malnourished children — prevention must be strengthened.
  • Early identification of weight or length stagnation with timely counselling is central to prevention.
• Empowering Frontline Workers:
  • Strengthen AWW skills in data collection to improve monthly anthropometric data quality.
  • Recruit a nutritionist and data analyst at district level for local data analysis and timely feedback.
  • Use digital tools to supplement in-person counselling with age-appropriate local food guidance.
  • Behaviour change communication must integrate annaprasana and cultural feeding practices to reinforce complementary feeding.
  • Joint capacity building of AWWs, ASHAs and ANMs in feeding assessment will enhance counselling quality.
• Multisectoral Action:
  • Child nutrition must be a standing agenda in Gram Sabha and Panchayat discussions.
  • Engaging men in childcare and promoting shared domestic responsibilities can improve feeding behaviours.
  • Crèche models combining childcare, nutrition and early learning are both child development and women’s empowerment interventions.

Source: The Hindu