Malnutrition In MP: 88% Of Children Under Two Are Not Receiving An Adequate Diet

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): As many as 87.6% of breastfeeding children and 91.1% of non-breastfeeding children aged six to 23 months in Madhya Pradesh are not receiving an adequate diet.

Taken together, 88% of children in this age group are deprived of an adequate diet in the state.

According to the National Family Health Survey-6 (NFHS-6) report released on Friday, an "adequate diet" is defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as solid or semi-solid foods from at least four food groups, excluding milk.

The report shows that the percentage of children under six months of age who are exclusively breastfed has declined from 74% to 56.4%.

However, awareness about initiating breastfeeding within one hour of birth has improved. The percentage of children breastfed within the first hour of birth has increased from 41.3% to 49.9%.

According to the report, the prevalence of diarrhoea among children under five years of age has risen from 6.4% in 2019 to 10.5%.

The prevalence of severe diarrhoea has increased from 0.5% to 0.7%. However, the prevalence of acute respiratory infection has declined from 2.6% to 1.4%.

The percentage of fully vaccinated children aged 12 to 23 months has increased from 83.3% to 85.8%.

According to NFHS-6 data, 95.7% of children in the same age group have received the Bacillus Calmette-Gu rin (BCG) vaccine, compared with 95.4% in 2019.

Similarly, the percentage of children who received all three doses of the polio vaccine has increased from 81.4% to 85.4%; the pentavalent vaccine from 87.9% to 88.6%; the hepatitis B vaccine from 81.9% to 86.5%; and the rotavirus vaccine from 70.9% to 86.3%.

According to the report, 97.4% of children aged 12 to 23 months received most of their vaccinations at government hospitals, while only 1.8% were vaccinated at private hospitals.

The corresponding figures in 2019 were 98.4% and 1.2%, respectively. The percentage of children aged two to four years attending pre-school has increased from 39% to 48%.

The report also states that 39.7% of children in Madhya Pradesh are underweight, up from 33% in 2019.

Among children under five years of age, the percentage whose weight is below the minimum for their age has risen from 33% to 39.7%. The proportion is 42% in rural areas and 30.5% in urban areas.