Baseline Study for Vision Healthy India Project: Fight against the Silent Emergency in Delhi-Final Report.

Abstract

Children are the future of any country. Acknowledging this fact, India’s National Policy for Children (1974) declared children as “nation’s supremely important assets”. However, even till today the country continues to be home to an alarmingly high proportion of malnourished children. As per the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4), over one-third (36%) of children under 5 years of age are underweight (too thin for their age), nearly two-fifth (38%) are stunted (too short for their age), and one-fifth (21%) are wasted (too thin for their height). Besides, nearly three-fifth children aged 6-59 months are anaemic having haemoglobin levels below 11.0 g/dl. The Global Nutrition Report 2018 estimated the number of stunted children in India at 46.6 million, which is nearly one-third of all the stunted children worldwide.