India tops the list of countries with 46.6 million children who are stunted, followed by Nigeria (13.9 million) and Pakistan (10.7 million), according to the Global Nutrition Report 2018
New Delhi: The government is reviewing parameters used to measure stunted growth in children to see how they can be “Indianised” according to anthropology of Indians, sources said. Stunting is the impaired growth and development that children experience from poor nutrition, repeated infection, and inadequate psychosocial stimulation. It is presently calculated by taking measurements of height. India tops the list of countries with 46.6 million children who are stunted, followed by Nigeria (13.9 million) and Pakistan (10.7 million), the Global Nutrition Report, 2018 said.
According to the National Family Health Survey-4 (NFHS-4), 38.4 per cent children under five years of age are stunted or low height-for-age and 21 per cent wasted or low weight-for-height in India. As many as 48.3 per cent of children in Bihar under five are stunted, the survey said. But official sources said the anthropology of Indian children varies in different parts of the country and there cannot be standard parameters to measure stunting in children across all states especially in a diverse country like India.
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