9 out 10 children in UP don’t get adequate diet: National Family Health Survey

Lucknow: Nutrition and health status of children in Uttar Pradesh remains “critically low”, according to the latest survey by the National Family Health Survey (NFHS).

The survey report states that nine out of 10 children in the age group of 6-23 months in Uttar Pradesh do not get adequate diet. The health status of these children remains much lower compared to the national standards.

A study done by Child Rights and You, based on the NFHS findings, says that only 5.3 per cent children in the state get adequate diet. This is the lowest in the country.

The NFHS data says that three out of four newborns in the state are not breastfed within the first hour of birth while  less than half are breastfed in the first six months.

Malnourishment in early years is also directly linked to maternal health. Not getting quality ante natal care and special nutritional requirements for expecting and lactating mothers is negatively impacting  the health of the child.

An expert connected with the study said that despite the claims of the state and Central governments regarding focus on early care, only six per cent of mothers in UP had access to full antenatal care services, while only 13 per cent pregnant women in the state consumed iron and folic acid supplement for 100 days or more during pregnancy.

More than one third of the total births in the state continue to remain home-births which amount to compromising on the important aspect of post-natal care.

The NFHS findings give three sets of data as child malnutrition indicators and these are stunting (low height for age), wasting (low weight for height) and underweight (low weight for age) for children under the age of five.

Though the figures for the three parameters have come down, the decrease has been very marginal and unsatisfactory given the time period of ten years since the last survey. The state still has 40 per cent of its children below the average weight.

The analysis further highlights that almost two-third of children within the age of 6 - 59 months are acutely suffering from anaemia.

Uttar Pradesh also continues to have the highest number of child mortality figures in the country with Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) of 64 deaths per 1000 live births and Under 5 Mortality Rate of 78 deaths per 1000 live births.