New research project to suggest ways to curb malnutrition

HYDERABAD: A city-based institute along with central agencies has embarked on a major research project to develop sustainable intervention models to combat problems of malnutrition in the worst affected districts of India.

The project will develop models that could promote multi-disciplinary convergence to identify the existing lacunae in implementation of anti-malnutrition programmes and promote their effective execution, a top official of the National Institute of Nutrition ( NIN) here said.

NIN is partnering with Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) and National Academy of Sciences India (NASI) for the venture.

The institute has already started a survey in Karimnagar district of Telangana and plans to cover more districts of Jharkhand, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh besides some of the slums in Ahmedabad and Hyderabad, NIN Director Incharge Kalpagam Polasa told reporters here.

The research-cum-action programme will be launched in 200 districts, 41 of which will be covered in the first phase, she said.

"In these districts, we will demonstrate feasibility of using intervention models that could result in improving nutritional status of the population, particularly the women and children," Polasa said.

Despite a plethora of programmes and substantial improvement in health indicators since independence, under-nutrition remains critical issue in India, where 40 per cent children under the age of three are underweight, 30 per cent of newborns have low birth weight and 56 per cent of women and 79 per cent of children are anaemic, she said.