India’s Nutrition Targets And How They Can Be Met In Conversation With Basanta Kumar Kar
The National Nutrition Mission or Poshan Abhiyaan is a formidable challenge for India. Basanta Kumar Kar, Country Director of Project Concern International/India, gives his views on the way ahead for India to meet its ambitious nutrition targets and thereby raise its economic growth. For his decades long contribution to champion the cause of sustainable food and nutrition security in India and globally, Kar is also known as the ‘Nutrition Man’
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Transcript
00:00 Good nutrition is good life and nutrition can supercharge the demographic dividend.
00:14 India has a lot of flagship programs and India aspire to be a global leader.
00:19 So nutrition can increase human capital and other capital and can contribute to reach
00:26 to a global leader.
00:28 Good nutrition can contribute to the well-being.
00:32 Good nutrition can also contribute to growth, productivity and higher order cognitive ability.
00:39 So that is why nutrition is essential and a key driver to growth, development, social
00:44 justice and equity and for equitable society.
00:47 It can empower the present and the future generation.
00:58 Nutrition is linked to individual income, country's overall income, growth and productivity.
01:05 Let me tell you about the data which tells about a difficult story.
01:11 If you see or if you know the data or you hear the data it is around 38.4 percent children
01:17 under 5 are stunted.
01:20 Around 53 percent women are anemic and 21 percent children under 5 are also under wasting
01:28 category.
01:29 So this is also very very difficult to understand and digest.
01:33 But let me tell you about the number around 36.7 million children are under stunting.
01:40 One rupee invested on nutrition can give a return of around 16 rupee.
01:48 So imagine how important it is.
01:51 If you look at the data it will be very difficult to digest.
01:56 Around 46.6 million children under 5 are stunted.
02:00 Around 25.5 million children also are wasting category.
02:07 Similarly 9.5 million children fall under severely affected malnourished category and
02:13 these children also struggle day and day out with life and death.
02:21 So can India grow with such a number?
02:24 So let me tell you about another figure which is also very alarming and difficult to digest.
02:31 Around 38.4 percent children under 5 are also under stunting category.
02:36 Similarly wasting has gone up in a 10 year period.
02:39 It is around 21 percent.
02:41 Anemia is all pervasive.
02:43 Around 53 percent women suffer from anemia.
02:48 And all these figures contribute to India's or inhibit India's progress, India's demographic
02:56 dividend.
02:58 So that is why nutrition is also very very important for India's income, growth and productivity.
03:06 Nutrition can, there is a research which says that 1 percent reduction in stunting can increase
03:13 productivity by 1 percent.
03:16 Similarly 1 anemia reduction can increase productivity by 5 to 11 percent.
03:23 So this is important and nutrition is necessary not only for family well-being, individual
03:28 income, individual cognitive ability, but also overall growth of the nation.
03:35 Nutrition has a woman face.
03:39 The intra household disparity and discriminations, gender based violence also inhibit nutrition
03:47 performance or nutrition outcome in India.
03:51 Around 21 percent women marry before age of 18.
03:56 35 percent women face spousal violence.
04:01 So imagine if women are not empowered, if women do not have decision and control, then
04:07 how can they decide about the food choices?
04:10 How can the feed children and build a new generation of Indians?
04:17 Let me tell you the growth story again.
04:19 Stunting can reduce GDP by 5 to 11 percent.
04:24 And adult productivity also can be improved if there is a better investment on nutrition.
04:39 I worked in India and many South and Southeast Asian countries.
04:43 Let me tell you about the story of India, then I will tell about the story of other
04:48 countries.
04:49 Today many of you know about Poshan Abhijan which is Prime Minister's agenda on a holistic
04:57 nutrition.
04:58 Poshan Abhijan talks about a target based intervention and there is a measurable target
05:07 on reduction of anemia, stunting and low birth weight.
05:12 Also there is a commitment towards a mission malnutrition free India to bring down stunting
05:17 to 25 by 2022.
05:20 It is very, very important and it could not have happened without a strong political will.
05:32 We need to create impact among the poor and marginalized and specifically among the people
05:39 who are in malnutrition and hunger hotspots, who are socially excluded, geographically
05:45 excluded, economically excluded or policy level excluded and who are suffering from
05:50 multiple deprivations of property.
05:54 I think we need a responsible nutrition, we need a pro-poor public policy and we need
06:02 people's participation.
06:03 I believe we need the nutrition movement or the nutrition revolution I can say emphatically
06:12 with women at forefront.
06:15 We need to focus on first 1000 days of life.
06:20 If we miss that, we will miss the life throughout and this is the first window of opportunity
06:27 starting from antenatal period till 2 years of age.
06:32 That is very, very important.
06:34 We need to also prioritize the second window of opportunity that is invest on adolescent
06:40 girls, they are the future mothers because unless we invest on adolescent girls, you
06:45 might get malnourished child or child with low birth weight.
06:50 So, it is also necessary we invest on them.
06:54 The third I would suggest investment on micronutrient malnutrition and specifically ensuring dietary
07:03 diversity or food fortification or food enrichment so that the hidden hunger or the micronutrient
07:12 malnutrition is not there because that increases morbidity and later mortality.
07:19 India has lot of problem on complementary feeding for the children under 2 years of
07:25 age.
07:26 Unfortunately, the data speaks that only less than 10 percent of the children get adequate
07:31 diet with quality.
07:35 So, we need dietary diversity, we need appropriate complementary feeding for the children and
07:41 feeding for the children during illness along with breastfeeding during first 1 hour and
07:49 also during first 6 months exclusive breastfeeding and breastfeeding and complementary feeding
07:56 from 6 months to 2 years.
07:59 For that we need demand, we need behavior change, we need for behavior change we need
08:05 interpersonal counseling because that works in nutrition.
08:11 I have been arguing that we need Hamlet level women change leader.
08:17 I name it Janani, join Angan Nutrition for New India.
08:21 India has 6.5 lakh villages, we need around 2.5 to 3 million Hamlet level Jananis women
08:29 change leader who can address social and geographical exclusion, who can go home and spread the
08:36 messages of nutrition through interpersonal counseling and behavior change is also very
08:41 very important.
08:43 [Music]