Poshan Tracker: Sharp dip in malnourishment among Punjab kids in 2 years
The number of malnourished children in Punjab has seen a steady decline in the past two years, according to a government data
Patiala : The number of malnourished children in Punjab has seen a steady decline in the past two years, according to a government data.
According to the ‘Poshan Tracker’, Punjab has been experiencing a drop in all three key indicators of malnourishment — stunning, wasted and underweight.
Stunted, wasted and underweight are the key indicators of malnutrition in children aged between 0-5 years. Stunted growth refers to children who are too short for their age, typically resulting from chronic malnutrition. Wasted refers to children who are too thin for their height, indicating acute malnutrition often owing to the severe weight loss, while underweight children have a low weight for their age.
In a written reply in the Lok Sabha on July 26, women and child development minister Annapurna Devi said stunting among Punjab children has dropped to 17.65 % in 2024 from 22.08% in 2022, the wasted rate has dipped from 9.54% to 3.17% and underweight children have come down from 12.58% to 5.57%.
Punjab’s malnourishment indicators are best in the region among the neighbouring states of Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Haryana.
‘Poshan Tracker’ is a mobile-based application launched by the ministry of women and child development, Government of India, which detects stunted, wasted and underweight children. The aim of the tracker is to provide the most vulnerable members of society nutrition-related services.
The Union minster said the nutrition norms have been revised to address the challenge of malnutrition more effectively. “The old norms were largely calorie-specific but the revised norms are more comprehensive and balanced in terms of both quantity and quality of supplementary nutrition based on the principles of diet diversity that provides quality protein, healthy fats and micronutrients. Fortified rice — instead of bare — is being supplied to anganwadi centres to meet the requirement of micro-nutrients and control anaemia among women and children,” the minister said.
“Greater emphasis is being given on the use of millets for preparation of hot cooked meal at least once a week and take home ration at anganwadi centres for beneficiaries,” the minister said in her reply in the Lok Sabha.
“Malnutrition has been an area of sharp focus for the Punjab government. Despite signs of affluence, there are pockets of poor nutrition and this factor was taken up for deeper analysis to identify groups which needed special care. Sustained engagement with construction workers, casual labourers, migrant families, itinerant communities and disadvantaged groups in Punjab helped the department of social security and women and child development in Punjab to prioritize action,” said Raji Shrivastava, special chief secretary, department of social security women and child and development.
She added that improvement was welcome and much more needs to be done on malnutrition, especially anaemia.
