The menace of malnutrition may have compounded across the globe as governments had to divert a significant amount of resources and attention towards combating the Covid-19 pandemic since its outbreak last year. The pandemic situation has undone the gains achieved through years of effort to eradicate malnutrition. This fear was reflected in the data recently shared by the Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani in the Rajya Sabha, though she maintained that nutritional status in India had improved in many states as per the National Family Health Survey 2019-20. She stated that the ministry had identified as many as 9,27,606 severely malnourished (SAM) children, aged between six months and six years in the country as of November 30 last year, and 3,98,359 of them were in Uttar Pradesh alone. This number is big but experts are of the opinion that this “less talked-about health” crisis will swell up due to the ongoing pandemic. Principal of SMS Medical College in Jaipur, Sudhir Bhandari had claimed during a webinar held recently that around 9.3 million children in the country could be affected by 2022 due to the pandemic, out of which 20 to 25% could suffer from stunted growth. This number is just an estimation but worsening of nutritional crisis seems unavoidable with thousands of families been affected, some due to death of loved ones to the pandemic and others because of job or income loss. Response to the pandemic also disrupted Central government’s nutritional programmes like Poshan Abhiyaan, Integrated Child Development Services and mid-day meal, adversely affecting millions of children and women in the country.
Another concern arising out of this nutritional crisis is the possibility of children bearing the brunt should another wave of coronavirus (third wave) strike as predicted by experts. Health experts have warned that children could be affected in the third wave. If it happens, undernourished children could suffer from pandemic complications. Many might be aware of the importance of nutrition in mothers and their child during pregnancy as well as during childhood for long-term development capacity of a child but that knowledge won’t help in the face of poverty. To mitigate this preventable health crisis that could worsen in the wake of the ongoing pandemic, the Central government should ensure that its nutritional schemes like Poshan Abhiyaan, which aims at reducing stunting of children under six years to 25% by 2022, reach the targeted population, especially rural areas even during the pandemic. This will have a duel benefit of fighting malnutrition as well as Covid-19. Besides implementing short-term measures to mitigate the crisis, long-term policies like strengthening of food security and food supply chain, and community-based management of malnutrition should be put in place to effectively fight the menace.