Odisha Crowned ‘Nutrition Champ’ Of India

Bhubaneswar: Odisha has outperformed other states to emerge as the “nutrition champion” in India.

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) accorded the tag to Odisha for making significant progress in reducing child malnutrition.

The study by the Washington DC-based institute sheds light on nutrition success stories on the ground in countries like Bangladesh, Brazil, Nepal, Peru, Thailand, Vietnam and Ethiopia and Odisha in India.

As per the findings, stunting reduced from 46.5 per cent of children below five years in 2005-06 to 35.3 per cent in 2015-16 in Odisha.

Similarly, the proportion of underweight children decreased from 42.3 per cent kids below five years to 35.8 per cent, and the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) reached 34 per cent more people in 2017 as compared to those in 2014.

It’s worth mentioning that Odisha has performed better than richer states, such as Gujarat, in delivering ICDS.