Only 9 percent of Indian children in the age group six to 24 months receive adequate nutrition, says Alok Kumar, advisor to the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog, India’s government think tank.
“One-third of children in India are growing up stunted, and tackling malnutrition is a major challenge for India. The main reason is lack of awareness about nutrition issues. This requires introducing behavioural changes in a campaign mode to reach every household,” said Kumar speaking at an event organised in Delhi by Unicef on March 13.
According to Unicef’s Global Nutrition Report 2018, released in November last year, India with 46.6 million stunted children tops the list of countries with the largest number of malnourished children worldwide followed by Nigeria (13.9 million) and Pakistan (10.7 million).