Health and Nutrition of Children in India

Children and their Impact:

India has one of the largest child populations in the world. Children are the future of the society we live in, they are the only ones who will decide how the future generation will look and perform. They will shape the world of tomorrow, where the human is going to live. But still, every year the life of millions of children is in danger due to the absence of nutrition in their body which degrades their bodily health. This is somewhere going to harm the future of the human generation only. And we and the upcoming generation are going to face the impact.

Importance of Nutrition:

The need and capacity of nutrition in a child varies much as compared to children. Infant and Children suffer more due to poor nutrition as compared to adults. Children have less capacity to store nutrition and so they need it at shorter intervals of time. Children require a high amount of nutrition at the stage of infancy. Any child’s brain grows rapidly during the last four months of pregnancy and during the first two years from their birth. So, at this time good nutrition is required to have a healthy child. Lack of nutrition to the child can help them to get borne with the disease like high blood pleasure, heart disease, and stroke, diabetes mellitus, and lungs disease during their growth from child to adult.

Nutrition helps them in utilizing their energy requirements in different physical activities. It helps in their growth. Protein being a nutrition giving substance helps in growth for children, tissue repair, to make essential hormones and enzymes in the body. Further, carbohydrates and water help in the proper functioning of the body of the child.

Children are suffering from Malnutrition in India due to the unavailability of the adequate amount of nutrients required for the growth of children. Malnutrition refers to those children who are either too short for their age or too thin.[1] National Health Policy, 2017[2] had been released by the Ministry of Health and Family highlighting the negative impact faced the population’s productivity and its contribution to the mortality rates in the country. According to the report of UNICEF, India was in the 10th position with the highest numbered of underweight children. And was found at 17th position on the number of stunted children in the world.[3]

Constitutional Provisions:

Article 39(e) and (f) states that the state shall direct its policy to ensure that the health and strength of workers, men, women, and children are not abused and that the citizens are not forced to enter avocations, and children are not allowed to do so. It furthers tells that children should be given opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner and freedom and dignity should be given to them. Article 45 states that the State shall provide early childhood care and education to all the children until the completion of six years of age.

Other than this, there are several acts working in the better of the children. They are the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000. The Infant Milk Substitutes, Feeding Bottles and Infant Foods (Regulation of Production, Supply, and Distribution) Act, 1992, the Guardian and Wards Act, 1890, help in the growth of children.

Steps were taken:

Indian Constitution guarantees Fundamental Rights to all children and empowers the state to make special provisions required for children. Considering children as the nation’s supremely important asset in the National Policy for Children, 1974, the Indian Government committed to secure the rights of its children by the ratification of related international conventions and treaties.

In National Policy, 2013, it was said that every child has universal child rights, and have the right to life, survival, development, education, protection, and so on. And no children should be discriminated as being given in Article 15. Measures were taken to improve the health of children, secure the right of the girl child to life, health, and nutrition.

In 2005, the National Plan of action for Children was prepared by the Ministry of women and child welfare. Its purpose was to reduce IMR and child mortality to below 30 per 1000 live births by 2010. To eliminate child marriages, ensuring 100% rural population having access to basic sanitation by 2012.

Various government initiatives that were launched to improve the condition of nutrition status in the country include Integrated Child Development Services. Janani Suraksha Yojana, National Health Mission, National Food Security Mission, Mid-Day Meal Scheme, Matritva Sahyog Yojana, is the few among them. These missions and strategy had aimed to reduce all forms of malnutrition by 2030.

[1]Nutrition in India, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, 2005-06,  http://rchiips.org/nfhs/nutrition_report_for_website_18sep09.pdf

[2]National Health Policy, 2017, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, March 16, 2017,  http://mohfw.nic.in/showfile.php?lid=4275

[3]Unstarred Question No. 2759, Lok Sabha, Answered on March 17, 2017, http://164.100.47.190/loksabhaquestions/annex/11/AU2759.pdf

Also Read – Child Refugees And Asylum Seekers

Raj Aryan

Lloyd Law College

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