India observes reduction in stunting but obesity, wasting still concerns: UNICEF report
The report prepared by a combined effort of WHO, UNICEF and the World Bank compares the global data of stunting, wasting and obesity. A recent report by United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) confirmed that India continues to reduce stunting among children.
According to the Joint Malnutrition Estimates, a collaborative efforts of UNICEF, World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank, the country recorded 1.6 crore fewer stunted children under the age of five in 2022 as compared to 2012. With recovering malnutrition, the country should be highly concerned about wasting as well as the upward spiral of obesity trend.
The main cause of stunting is poor nutrition that causes impaired growth and development among children. This also leads to persistent infections and weaker immunity system. As per the report, stunting under five years of age has dropped in India, from the prevalence rate of 41.6 per cent in 2012 to 31.7 per cent in 2022. This means that the the number of children reported to be stunted has gone down from 52 lakh (2012) to 36 lakh (2022).
The report also highlighted that India’s global contribution has also decreased from 30 per cent to 25 per cent in a decade.
However, the report also found that India’ s overall prevalence of wasting in 2022 was 18.7 per cent, contributing 49 per cent to the global burden of malnutrition indicator. With this, the prevalence of obesity has also increased marginally. In India, the obesity prevalence has increased from 2.2 per cent in 2012 to 2.8 per cent in 2022. This means that the number of population affected have grown from 27.5 lakh (2012) to 31.8 lakh (2022). Hence, India is contributing about 8.8 per cent to the global burden of obesity.
Globally, there is no development in weight issue. The report stated that there is insufficient progress to reach the targets set to combat nutrition related issues by 2025.
Looking at the targets set by World Health Assembly for 2025 and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) for 2030, only about one-third countries are on the right track. The SDG states that by 2030 all countries must halve the prevalence of stunting.
On the other hand, only a few countries are expected to reach the goal to achieve 3 per cent prevalence of overweight.
