Assam has the highest number of stunted children in the Northeast while Manipur has the lowest in the age group of 0-5 years, according to the data tabled by the Union ministry of women and child development in the Lok Sabha on Friday.

The state-wise details of malnutrition indicators for children (0-5 years) from the Poshan Tracker for October 2024 showed 42.4 per cent of 22,53,502 children in Assam and 7.7 per cent of 1,98,515 children in Manipur were stunted, according to the ministry data.

In the stunted children category, Assam is followed by Tripura (40.5), Arunachal Pradesh (32.8 per cent of 49,985 children), Nagaland (28 per cent of 54,160), Mizoram (26.7 per cent of 68,356), Meghalaya (18.2 per cent of 2,64,258) and Sikkim (9.2 per cent of 24,406).

The Poshan Tracker, a cutting-edge information and communications technology (ICT) application, was rolled out on March 1, 2021, as an important governance tool for facilitating the identification of stunting (low height for age), wasting (low weight for height), under-weight (low weight for age) prevalence among children based on the WHO growth charts.

Tripura, on the other hand, leads the eight north-eastern states with the highest percentage of underweight children (16.6 per cent of 2,12, 431 children), while Sikkim has the lowest (1.7 per cent of 24,406), according to the answers tabled by Savitri Thakur, the minister of state for women and child development, on Friday in response to an unstarred question posed by S.S. Jamir, the Congress MP from Nagaland, and Raja Ram Singh, the CPI(ML) MP from Bihar.

In the underweight category, Tripura is followed by Assam (16.4 per cent), Arunachal Pradesh (9.6 per cent), Nagaland (6.6 per cent), Mizoram (5.9 per cent), Meghalaya (4.5 per cent) and Manipur (2.6 per cent).

The Opposition MPs, among others, had sought the state-wise numbers of underweight and stunted children as well as the steps taken/proposed to be taken to address malnutrition in children, especially in high-burden states and districts, state/UT-wise and district-wise, the steps taken by the government to monitor and improve child nutrition outcomes effectively along with the resources allocated to the states with high percentage of stunted children.

In its response, the ministry said that the challenges of malnutrition are being addressed under Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0, by establishing cross-cutting convergence amongst 18 ministries/departments.

Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 is a Centre-sponsored integrated nutrition support programme seeking to address the challenges of malnutrition in children, adolescent girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers through a strategic shift in nutrition content and delivery and by the creation of a convergent ecosystem to develop and promote practices that nurture health, wellness and immunity.

“Nutrition goes beyond mere eating of food; it requires proper digestion, absorption, and metabolism which are influenced by factors like sanitation, education and access to safe drinking water. As malnutrition requires a multi-sector approach involving dimensions of food, health, water, sanitation and education, it is crucial to effectively address the issue of malnutrition,” the ministry said.