Gandhinagar: Even as malnutrition among children remains an Achilles heel despite the rapid strides in economic development, the Gujarat govt has decided to launch a Nutrition Mission to address the issue.
Data shows that Gujarat does not rank among the top states that have addressed malnutrition concerns.
The Nutrition Mission will be established under the newly announced Viksit Gujarat Fund, under which an allocation of Rs 75 crore has been made for the 2025-26 financial year, top govt sources said.
On Tuesday, a preliminary discussion held by the committee of secretaries (COS) under the chairmanship of chief secretary Pankaj Joshi deliberated the issue and departmental responsibilities.
A similar mission was proposed in 2011-12,which subsequently became dormant with insignificant results.
Now, the govt endeavours to effectively implement the mission, the sources said.
“Previously, the women and child development department was tasked with monitoring child malnutrition but failed to achieve the anticipated outcomes. Hence, we have proposed intervention of the health and family welfare department. Although modalities are still being worked out, the health and family welfare department is likely to assume responsibility for implementing the Nutrition Mission,” they said.
Challenges to improve infant mortality rate (IMR) and maternal mortality rate (MMR) include enhancing essential and emergency obstetric and newborn care quality, addressing critical human resource deficiencies, particularly specialists, and intensive care at sub-district levels.
Data provided by the Union govt at the ongoing Parliament session said that Gujarat has been improving its attempts to reduce malnutrition among children.
The Union govt said that the percentage of stunted children between the ages of 0 and five in Gujarat, dropped from 53.6% in Oct 2022 to 43.6% in Oct 2023 and further dipped to 40.8% as of Oct 2024.
Quoting data from Poshan Tracker, the Union govt said that the percentage of children in Gujarat between the ages of 0 and five who are wasted, rose marginally from 8.1% in Oct 2022 to 8.9% in Oct 2023.
However, the percentage of wasted children in the same age group had dropped to 7.8% as of Oct 2024, the data presented by govt showed.
On underweight children up to the age of five years, the Union govt said that as of Oct 2022, 23.1% of children were underweight.
By Oct 2023, this percentage fell to 20.7% and remained the same as of Oct 2024.
Experts said that for states like Gujarat with relatively higher per capita income, the need of the hour is to create awareness about nutrition.
“Food per se is not an issue, but the quality of it in terms of nutrients should be checked along with a focus on a balanced diet. Schemes such as the midday meal play a major role in rural areas. Awareness among expectant mothers ensures good birth weight of a child,” said a public health expert in the city.