Malnutrition/ Anthropometric Index

Malnutrition is a condition that arises from an inadequate, excessive, or imbalanced intake of essential nutrients. It can occur due to insufficient nutrient consumption, poor absorption or utilization, or excessive nutrient loss. Malnutrition can manifest in different ways, including undernutrition and overnutrition.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), malnutrition is a key indicator for assessing the health status of a country. The evaluation of malnutrition focuses on children aged 0 to 59 months (less than 5 years) and women aged 15 to 49 years.

In children under the age of 5, anthropometric measurements are considered reliable parameters for assessing their nutritional status. Early childhood undernutrition can lead to compromised cognitive development and reduced productivity in adulthood. Children are also more susceptible to changes in their food intake and food scarcity. The indicators used to evaluate malnutrition in children include stunting, wasting, underweight, and anaemia.

Similarly, for adults, the prevalence of anaemia and the Body Mass Index (BMI) status of women aged 15 to 49 years are used to determine malnutrition. In developing nations like India, both children and adults are vulnerable to malnutrition due to factors such as inadequate dietary intake, infectious diseases, insufficient care, and unequal food distribution within households. Hence, the focus of our attention is on addressing malnutrition among children and women.

In India, the proportion of thin women declined from 36 percent in 2005-06 to 23 percent in 2015-16 and at the same time the proportion of overweight or obese women increased from 13 percent to 21 percent. Overall, there has been an increase in the mean BMI from 20.5 in 2005-06 to 21.9 in 2015-16.

As per the NFHS statistics, the proportion of women anaemic was 53 percent in 2015-16 as compared to 55.3 percent in 2005-06. The anaemia among women by wealth quintile shows a variation with about 59 percent of women in the lowest wealth quintile are anaemic as compared to 48.2 percent in the highest wealth quintile. The anaemia of women by schooling status shows that among illiterate women, the proportion of women anaemic was 56.4 percent as compared to 48.7 percent for women having education at intermediate level.