WOMEN’S HEALTH AND WELLBEING CRUCIAL TO COMBAT STUNTING
Coverage from The Hindu underscored the importance of women’s health to combat stunting
Findings of a recent IFPRI study on understanding the geographical burden of stunting in India were shared with journalists at a media briefing on 24th May 2018, at the Press Club of India, by Purnima Menon, Senior Research Fellow at IFPRI, and lead author of the study, along with Rasmi Avula, Research Fellow and co-author of this study.
In this study, published in Maternal and Child Nutrition journal, IFPRI researchers Purnima Menon, Rasmi Avula, Derek Headey, and Phuong Nguyen, analyzed the National Family Health Survey-IV district-level summary data to examine factors contributing to differences in childhood stunting between low and high burden districts of India. Their analyses show that differences in stunting prevalence between low and high burden districts of India are explained by differences in women's low body mass index (19% of the difference), education (12%), children's adequate diet (9%), assets (7%), open defecation (7%), age at marriage (7%), antenatal care (6%), and household size (5%).
This analysis comes at a time when Government of India’s POSHAN Abhiyan (or, National Nutrition Mission) has stated a clear district-level focus for action and has recently added 235 additional districts for inclusion in the second phase of POSHAN Abhiyan. Welcoming the Indian government’s new nationwide initiative and district focused effort to reduce stunting at the press briefing, Dr Menon said, “Our study shows that additional determinants such as gender and poverty must also be addressed district-by‐district, to reduce these inequities and contribute to stunting reduction.”
Media coverage of the analysis has highlighted on the fact that efforts to reduce stunting in the high-burden districts and bring them closer to low stunting districts will be incomplete without an emphasis on women’s health, education, and wellbeing through the life course. We highlight below some of the media coverage.
- The Telegraph’s article, ‘Deprived mom, stunted child’, highlighted findings on women's education and women's diet.
- ‘Women’s health crucial to combat stunting’, announced the headlines of an article in The Hindu.
- ‘Why lower socio-economic inequality holds key to reducing malnutrition’ noted The Indian Express report.
- ‘To Fix Childhood Stunting in India, Focus on Women's Health’, said an article in The Wire.
- ‘Women’s well-being, education is crucial for reducing child malnutrition’ reported United News of India.
- ‘Lack of focus on women’s well-being, education is leading to stunted growth in India’s children,’ announced an article in Business Insider.
- In its article titled ‘Six UP districts figure in top 10 list of child stunting in India’ Business Standard highlighted the top and bottom districts on stunting.
- Live Mint reported ‘Gender inequalities driving child stunting in India’.
- IndiaSpend did a tweet series to share the study findings.
Dr Menon reiterated IFPRI’s commitment to support NITI Aayog with data analytics as they roll out the National Nutrition Mission. She made it clear that, “We don’t need new policies, but we must push the gender angle harder to drive better nutritional outcomes.” She also added that the story is not bleak overall; given that some of the poorest states like Odisha and Chhattisgarh have reduced the prevalence of child stunting, proves that things are working in many parts of India, and there is hope.
