NEW DELHI, Feb 28:
India’s flagship programme to tackle undernutrition — Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) — may have been inadvertently excluding women with low education and the poorest households from accessing its benefits, according to a study published Thursday.
Expansion and utilisation of one of India’s largest government-run community-based nutrition programmes increased significantly between 2006 and 2016, especially among historically disadvantaged castes and tribes.
However, according to researchers from International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), women with low education and the poorest households are relatively more excluded from accessing program benefits.
Among states too, while overall utilisation has improved, high malnutrition states are relatively lagging.
The study found both historically disadvantaged castes and pregnant women with low education levels were less likely to receive ICDS services than other groups.
The ICDS provides food, pre-school education, and primary healthcare to children under six and pregnant and lactating women.
ICDS continues to be India’s flagship program to tackle undernutrition, and key actions under India’s new nutrition mission, the POSHAN Abhiyaan, are anchored in the programme.
The expanded participation between 2006 and 2016 demonstrates progress, but the researchers cautioned not all groups have benefited equally. “Even though overall utilisation has improved and reached many marginalized groups such as historically disadvantaged castes and tribes, the poor are still left behind, with lower utilisation and lower expansion throughout the continuum of care,” said Kalyani Raghunathan, IFPRI Research Fellow.
“These gaps are especially pronounced in the largest states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, which also carry the highest burden of undernutrition,” said Raghunathan. “While both states have shown improvements in 2016, they still fall behind national averages, suggesting that overall poor performance in high poverty states could lead to major exclusions,” he said. (PTI)
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