Bhopal: Nearly 78,000 children were found to be malnourished in Madhya Pradesh in the first three months of this calendar year, the state government said in the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday (July 12), Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan gave the data in a written reply to a question by Leader of Opposition Govind Singh on Tuesday (July 11).
Malnourished children are often weak and in bad health because of a lack of food or a lack of food that is good for them. It can cause stunting and wasting in kids and make them underweight.
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Mr. Singh, a Congress MLA from Lahar in Bhind district, had sought to know if about 78,000 malnourished children were found in the first three months of this year.
The numbers include 21,631 acutely malnourished children, Singh said quoting figures of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Child Health and Nutrition Mission.
According to the written reply by the government, the Indore division had the most number of malnourished kids in the state at 22,721. The division includes the tribal-dominated districts of Alirajpur and Jhabua.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – theLGBTQ population,indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the currentCOVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water,SanitationandHygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fightmalnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health,adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues likeair pollution,waste management,plastic ban,manual scavengingand sanitation workers andmenstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India wheretoiletsare used andopen defecation free (ODF)status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched byPrime Minister Narendra Modiin 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.
