15.88% children in Maharashtra underweight, 4.05% severely underweight: ICDS

In terms of malnourished children in Maharashtra, Nandurbar with 48.26% children underweight and 15.12% severely underweight is the worst performer whereas Sangli with 7.80% children underweight and 1.45% severely underweight has the healthiest children

According to the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), Maharashtra has about 15.88% underweight children and 4.05% severely underweight children, with the tribal population accounting for the highest number of underweight children in the state.

According to the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), Maharashtra has about 15.88% underweight children and 4.05% severely underweight children, with the tribal population accounting for the highest number of underweight children in the state. (REPRESENTATIVE PHOTO)

According to the June 2020 ICDS report, there are about 7.858 million children in the zero to six age group in the state, out of which 5.11 million are from rural areas; 1.08 million are from tribal pockets; and 1.655 million from urban areas. Of these, 15.88% children under the age of six are underweight and 4.05% are severely underweight.

In terms of malnourished children, Nandurbar with 48.26% children underweight and 15.12% severely underweight is the worst performer whereas Sangli with 7.80% children underweight and 1.45% severely underweight has the healthiest children. In terms of malnourished children, Nandurbar is followed by Palghar and Yavatmal. The districts with a lower-than-state average percentage of underweight and severely underweight children are: Nandurbar, Palghar, Yavatmal, Gondia, Gadchiroli, Nanded, Parbhani, Amravati, Wardha, Ratnagiri, Aurangabad, Nashik, Satara, Jalna and also the financial capital Mumbai suburban which has about 5.25% severely underweight and 15.64% underweight children. While Pune district has about 7.53% underweight children and 1.94% severely underweight children, and is at the lower end of the spectrum in terms of both underweight and severely underweight children; just behind Osmanabad and Sangli that have the healthiest children in the state.

Rubal Agarwal, ICDS commissioner who held a review meeting with both the urban and rural administration in the last one week said, “We have asked the administration to ensure that every child’s health is reported. There is a difference in the numbers reported by the local administration and the central team, so we have asked the district administration to accelerate the action and also necessary interventions to ensure that no child remains malnourished.”