Parliament Question: Malnutrition and Anaemia among Children

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT LOK SABHA UN-STARRED QUESTION NO. 2271 ANSWERED ON 31.07.2026 MALNUTRITION AND ANAEMIA AMONG CHILDREN 2271. DR. D RAVI KUMAR: Will the Minister of WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state: (a) whether the Government has reviewed the prevalence of child malnutrition and anaemia under Poshan Abhiyan, if so, the details thereof; (b) whether the latest National Family Health Survey/departmental data indicate improvements in nutritional indicators, if so, the details thereof; (c) the details of funds released and beneficiaries covered under Poshan scheme, State-wise, including Tamil Nadu; and (d) the details of the measures proposed to eliminate child malnutrition and improve maternal health outcomes in the country? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI SAVITRI THAKUR) (a) to (d): The Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoWCD) has launched ‘Poshan Tracker’ digital application, an ICT based tool, for monitoring and reviewing the nutrition outcomes; stunting, wasting, under-weight prevalence among children under 5 years of age and other services under Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 (Mission Poshan 2.0). The State wise information on these nutrition indicators and beneficiary coverage under the Mission is available at the Poshan Tracker public dashboard: https://www.poshantracker.in/statistics. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) conducts various rounds of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) every few years which have shown improvement in malnutrition indicators in children across the country. Details of these indicators for children under 5 years of age from latest NFHS-6 and Poshan Tracker are given below:NFHS Survey Stunting % Underweight % Wasting % NFHS-6 (2023-24) 29.3 31.8 19.0 Poshan Tracker (June 29.3 11.91 3.88 2026) MoHFW also keeps record of data of children suffering from anaemia. As per NFHS-5 (2019-21) the prevalence of anaemia is 67.1 percent in children aged 6-59 months. The state-wise details of funds released in financial year 2025-26 under Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 are placed at Annexure I. Under the Mission Poshan 2.0, significant measures have been taken by the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoWCD) to improve nutritional outcomes: • Supplementary Nutrition in form of Hot cooked meal (HCM) and Take Home Ration (THR) is provided to Children (6 months to 6 years), Pregnant Women, Lactating Mothers and Adolescent Girls in accordance with the nutrition norms contained in Schedule-II of the National Food Security Act, 2013. Additional Nutrition is also provided to Severely Acute Malnourished (SAM) children in form of Take-Home Ration (THR). • One of the major activities undertaken is Community Mobilization and Awareness Advocacy in the form of Jan Andolans (Poshan Maah and Poshan Pakhwada celebrated in the months of September and March-April respectively) to educate people on nutritional aspects as adoption of good nutrition habit requires sustained efforts for behavioural change. • Ministry of Women & Child Development and Ministry of Health & Family Welfare have jointly released the Protocol for Management of Malnutrition in Children to prevent and treat severely acute malnutrition in children and for reducing associated morbidity and mortality. • To encourage diet-diversity and consumption of wholesome local produce, Poshan Vatikas have been developed at Anganwadi Centres (AWCs). National Health Mission (NHM), MoHFW provides support for the implementation of various schemes/initiatives to improve maternal health outcomes among pregnant women across the country which are as follows: • Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) is a demand promotion and conditional cash transfer scheme for promoting institutional delivery. • Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK) entitles all pregnant woman delivering in public health institutions to have absolutely free and no expense delivery, includingcaesarean section. The entitlements include free drugs, consumables, free diet during stay, free diagnostics, free transportation and free blood transfusion, if required. • Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA) provides pregnant women a fixed day, free of cost, assured and quality antenatal check up by a Specialist/Medical Officer on the 9th day of every month. • Surakshit Matritva Aashwasan (SUMAN) aims to provide assured, dignified, respectful and quality healthcare at no cost and zero tolerance for denial of services for every woman and newborn visiting the public health facility to end all preventable maternal and newborn deaths. • Village Health, Sanitation and Nutrition Day (VHSND) is a monthly outreach activity at Anganwadi centers for provision of maternal and childcare including nutrition in convergence with the ICDS. • Outreach camps are provisioned to improve the reach of health care services, especially in tribal and hard-to-reach areas. This platform is used to increase awareness for Maternal and child health services, community mobilization as well as to track high-risk pregnancies. • Mother and Child Protection (MCP) card and Safe Motherhood Booklet are distributed to the pregnant women for educating them on diet, rest, danger signs of pregnancy, benefit schemes and institutional deliveries. • Regular IEC/BCC is also a part of all the schemes for greater demand generation. Health and nutrition education through mass and social media is also promoted to improve healthy practices and to generate demand for service uptake. • Strengthening of infrastructure including First Referral Units (FRUs), Maternal and Child Health (MCH) wings, Obstetric High Dependency Units & Intensive Care Units (Obst. HDU & ICU), Birth Waiting Homes (BWHs) in difficult terrain, remote and tribal areas to improve access to healthcare facilities and promote institutional delivery. *****Annexure I THE STATE-WISE DETAILS OF FUNDS RELEASED IN FINANCIAL YEAR 2025-26 UNDER MISSION SAKSHAM ANGANWADI AND POSHAN 2.0 ARE GIVEN BELOW: Rs. in crores S. No Name of the State and UT Funds released (2025-26) 1 Andaman and Nicobar Islands 8.1 2 Andhra Pradesh 759.76 3 Arunachal Pradesh 118.5 4 Assam 1548.67 5 Bihar 905.43 6 Chandigarh 9.87 7 Chhattisgarh 518.22 8 Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu 5.92 9 Delhi 150.21 10 Goa 19.74 11 Gujarat 699.13 12 Haryana 67.12 13 Himachal Pradesh 328.59 14 Jammu & Kashmir 401.62 15 Jharkhand 429.26 16 Karnataka 863.64 17 Kerala 283.8118 Ladakh 16.41 19 Lakshadweep 0.82 20 Madhya Pradesh 937.45 21 Maharashtra 1405.45 22 Manipur 199.99 23 Meghalaya 182.04 24 Mizoram 52.69 25 Nagaland 146.29 26 Odisha 911.27 27 Puducherry 4.02 28 Punjab 190.73 29 Rajasthan 843.51 30 Sikkim 18.21 31 Tamil Nadu 636.6 32 Telangana 209.2 33 Tripura 154.73 34 Uttar Pradesh 2145.42 35 Uttarakhand 271.05 36 West Bengal 1333.9 *****