NFHS-6 reveals progress amid nutrition challenges

📌 Summary:

• The newly released National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-6 presents a mixed report card for India — clear gains alongside persistent nutrition gaps

• Child stunting (under-five) fell from 35.5% to 29.3%; stunting indicates prolonged sub-optimal food intake plus other deprivations

• Wasting (low weight-for-height) shows no change overall, except a fall in severe wasting

• Causal reading: nutrition gains are driven by better healthcare access, immunisation, maternal education and improved housing, water and sanitation — while poor feeding practices and weak access to quality, affordable diets continue to limit progress

• Maternal/institutional indicators improved sharply: institutional births reached 90% (public facilities = 58% of births); 91% of deliveries attended by skilled personnel; 95% of mothers received at least one antenatal visit

• Policy implication: continued investment in diet quality, women's access to knowledge/resources, and WASH is needed to close the remaining nutrition gap

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS1 Society (population, women, development) and GS2 (health, nutrition policy) — links to POSHAN Abhiyaan, ICDS and SDG targets on hunger/health

📝 Prelims Facts:

• NFHS-6: stunting down 35.5% to 29.3%; institutional births 90% (public facilities 58%)

• 91% deliveries by skilled personnel; 95% mothers had at least one antenatal visit

• NFHS is conducted under MoHFW; provides district-level health and demographic data

🔑 Key Term: Stunting — low height-for-age, reflecting chronic undernutrition; distinct from wasting (low weight-for-height), which reflects acute undernutrition