Nutrition

The state of hunger and malnutrition in India is worrying. Statistics compiled by the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) show that, in absolute terms, India has the highest number (one quarter) of undernourished (hungry) people in the world (194.6 million or 15 percent of India’s total population during the years of 2014-16). As per the data collected by National Family Health Surveys (NFHS) for 2015-16: • 41% of children below five years in rural India are stunted (low height for age); • 22% are wasted (low weight for height); • 38% are underweight (low weight for age); • 59% of children aged between 6 and 59 months are anaemic. Compared to 1975-1979, an average rural Indian now consumes 550 fewer calories and 13 mg protein, 5 mg iron, 250 mg calcium and about 500 mg vitamin A less than they used to. In average, children below the age of three are consuming 80 ml of milk per day against the recommended intake of the 300 ml they require. Source: National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau (NNMB). The same NNMB survey also revealed that, over a period of 40 years, the proportion of landless people in rural areas grew from 30% to 40%, and the proportion of people who were owners and cultivators decreased by almost half. Meanwhile, food inflation in India increased at a faster rate than overall inflation (10% versus 6.7%). Within overall food inflation, the price of pulses, fats and vegetables rose quicker than that of cereals. The result is that fewer people can buy these foods. So, most rural people are neither growing food, nor can they buy it in adequate quantities.

Dharmalife Response
As the cost of pulses and vegetables remain high and the access to high quality product is restricted in many regions, essential nutrients remain out of reach for many in rural India. Therefore Dharmalife sought to promote a micro nutrient fortified drink available in affordable sachets to address nutritional deficiency.

Impact:
Through our various campaigns, Dharmalife addressed the issue of child health awareness. Over 2.7 million sachets of fortified health drinks were sold in the villages.