Combating Child Under-nutrition

Updated on: Monday, September 05, 2011

Nearly one-third of under five year old deaths in India are due to under-nutrition. Immediate intervention to cut down on such deaths and save millions of lives is the need of the hour, said experts at a recent workshop held at the Indian Science Congress Association.

In view of the soaring rates of child under-nutrition and the long-felt need to improve the feeding practice for young child and infants for better health and nutritional outcomes, International College of Nutrition, Calcutta Chapter in academic partnership with Nestle Nutrition Institute organised a one-day workshop recently on the occasion of National Nutrition Week. The workshop was held at Indian Science Congress Auditorium in Kolkata on the theme - Nutrition is the stepping-stone for our future generation.

“On the steps of nutrition lies the emancipation of the next generation – this is our vision and conviction. Malnutrition is a multifaceted, multi-sectoral and multi dimensional issue. Our country is facing both under-nutrition and overweight diet related chronic non-communicable diseases leading to morbidity and mortality”, said Sudip Bandhopadhyay, minister of state for health, Governement of India, in his message during the National Nutrition Week Workshop.

Latest National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data still shows the MMR and IMR rates are still high, and there needs to be a concerted effort to bring down the mortality rates. Further, approximately 46 per cent of children under six months of age are being exclusively breast-fed.

Speakers at the workshop underlined the urgent need to promote good infant and young child feeding practices, especially exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months.

The programme was presided over by Dr Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee, chairperson, ICN, Kolkata and Paromita Das Dutta, joint secretary, Indian Dietetic Association and secretary, International College of Nutrition, Calcutta Chapter.

Optimal infant and young child feeding practices are the cornerstone as far as optimal child care and development is concerned, they said. As far as optimal childcare and development is concerned, exclusive breastfeeding practice is the cornerstone. The rates of breastfeeding in India are alarmingly low and there is an urgent need to educate mothers about the benefits of breast-feeding their infants. These were some of the key issues that were brought to light during the discussions at the workshop.

“Nutrition is the focal point of health and well-being. It is directly related to human resource development, productivity and ultimately a great contributor to the national growth,” said Dr GNV Brahmam, scientist and HOD, Division of Community Studies, National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR), Hyderabad. Dr Brahmam spoke on the topic Nutrition in Rural India.
“Food security and the role of nutrition especially for children is extremely important. When all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to have balanced nutrition resulting in a healthy and productive life then only can we say that proper food security exists,” added Dr Biplab Nandi, senior officer FAO of UN and President, SNEHA, Kolkata.

The intent of the workshop was to expose the aspiring nutritionists and dieticians of the region to the latest science in the area thereby building capacity and opinions on good nutritional practices for better health and nutritional outcome. Hailing the joint efforts of the International College of Nutrition, Calcutta Chapter and Nestle Nutrition Institute to draw attention to the problem of poor infant feeding practices, unhealthy life styles, and lack of physical activity, the experts at the workshop further reiterated that people from various walks of life need to come together and do their bit to create awareness and address the existing nutritional challenges in the country.

Combating Child Under-nutrition

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