NEW DELHI: Malnutrition caused 69 per cent of deaths of children below the age of five in India, according to a UNICEF report released on Wednesday.
In its report — The State of the World’s Children 2019, UNICEF said that every second child in that age group is affected by some form of malnutrition.
This includes stunting (35 per cent), wasting (17 pc) and overweight (2 pc). Only 42 pc of children (in the age group of 6 to 23 months) are fed at adequate frequency and 21 pc get adequately diverse diet.
Timely complementary feeding is initiated for only 53 per cent of infants aged 6-8 months.
About Indian women’s health, it said every second woman is anaemic. It also said that anaemia is the most prevalent in children under the age five years. Its prevalence among adolescent girls is twice that of adolescent boys. (AGENCIES)
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