Express Healthcare: India’s COVID-19 And Malnutrition Battle
India’s Vulnerable Battle Against Covid-19 And Malnutrition
Express Healthcare, Ankita Choure, 20 May 2020
(Image courtesy of Express Healthcare)
The nation-wide lockdown announced on 24th March 2020, which continues till today, for over a month has built government’s response to fight against COVID-19 strategically in many ways, but has also increased the pressure on healthcare systems and other essential services tremendously. While government schemes aimed at providing cash-transfer, healthcare and other benefits are trying to cope with the pressure of people’s needs in times of an emergency, it is not able to cater larger vulnerable groups across India.
Malnutrition has been a huge public health burden in India. In India, one in five children under five years is wasted. Percentage wise, the figure stands at 20.8 per cent, compared to Asia’s average of 9.4 per cent. This is further supported by India’s National Family Health Surveys (NFHS) data, as per the last two survey rounds; 21 per cent are wasted (too thin for height) and 7.5 per cent are severely wasted. The numbers have increased from 6.4 per cent to 7.5 per cent in the last two decades, making our children weaker and susceptible to all infections, including COVID-19. India has been making conscious efforts to tackle malnutrition through various initiatives such as Poshan Abhiyaan (National Nutrition Mission) and Transformation of Aspirational Districts programme launched in January 2018, but the COVID-19 pandemic could reverse these gains.
