INDIA’S GROWTH STORY HAS A CHILD NUTRITION PROBLEM

India's stunting prevalence has fallen to 29.3% in 2023–24 from 35.5% in 2019–21 according to NFHS-6, yet nearly two in five children still have low weight for their height and about a third remain underweight. In a feature on the The Wire (India), Purnima Menon, Director for Strategy and Partnerships at IFPRI explained that “the determinants of child nutrition are multiple and interconnected,” and that “improvements in maternal health, healthcare access and child feeding practices can all contribute to better nutrition outcomes.” She noted that much of the region's stunting and anthropometric failure traces back to children being born too small, making what happens during pregnancy, women's education, and the conditions of women's lives enormously consequential for child growth. The piece underscores that closing India's nutrition gap will take sustained attention to maternal health, caregiving support, and dietary diversity and not economic growth alone.

Read the full article here.

Visit the feature on the IFPRI website here.