00:00 Good nutrition is good life and nutrition can supercharge the demographic dividend.
00:14 India has a lot of flagship programs and India aspire to be a global leader.
00:19 So nutrition can increase human capital and other capital and can contribute to reach
00:26 to a global leader.
00:28 Good nutrition can contribute to the well-being.
00:32 Good nutrition can also contribute to growth, productivity and higher order cognitive ability.
00:39 So that is why nutrition is essential and a key driver to growth, development, social
00:44 justice and equity and for equitable society.
00:47 It can empower the present and the future generation.
00:58 Nutrition is linked to individual income, country's overall income, growth and productivity.
01:05 Let me tell you about the data which tells about a difficult story.
01:11 If you see or if you know the data or you hear the data it is around 38.4 percent children
01:17 under 5 are stunted.
01:20 Around 53 percent women are anemic and 21 percent children under 5 are also under wasting
01:28 category.
01:29 So this is also very very difficult to understand and digest.
01:33 But let me tell you about the number around 36.7 million children are under stunting.
01:40 One rupee invested on nutrition can give a return of around 16 rupee.
01:48 So imagine how important it is.
01:51 If you look at the data it will be very difficult to digest.
01:56 Around 46.6 million children under 5 are stunted.
02:00 Around 25.5 million children also are wasting category.
02:07 Similarly 9.5 million children fall under severely affected malnourished category and
02:13 these children also struggle day and day out with life and death.
02:21 So can India grow with such a number?
02:24 So let me tell you about another figure which is also very alarming and difficult to digest.
02:31 Around 38.4 percent children under 5 are also under stunting category.
02:36 Similarly wasting has gone up in a 10 year period.
02:39 It is around 21 percent.
02:41 Anemia is all pervasive.
02:43 Around 53 percent women suffer from anemia.
02:48 And all these figures contribute to India's or inhibit India's progress, India's demographic
02:56 dividend.
02:58 So that is why nutrition is also very very important for India's income, growth and productivity.
03:06 Nutrition can, there is a research which says that 1 percent reduction in stunting can increase
03:13 productivity by 1 percent.
03:16 Similarly 1 anemia reduction can increase productivity by 5 to 11 percent.
03:23 So this is important and nutrition is necessary not only for family well-being, individual
03:28 income, individual cognitive ability, but also overall growth of the nation.
03:35 Nutrition has a woman face.
03:39 The intra household disparity and discriminations, gender based violence also inhibit nutrition
03:47 performance or nutrition outcome in India.
03:51 Around 21 percent women marry before age of 18.
03:56 35 percent women face spousal violence.
04:01 So imagine if women are not empowered, if women do not have decision and control, then
04:07 how can they decide about the food choices?
04:10 How can the feed children and build a new generation of Indians?
04:17 Let me tell you the growth story again.
04:19 Stunting can reduce GDP by 5 to 11 percent.
04:24 And adult productivity also can be improved if there is a better investment on nutrition.
04:39 I worked in India and many South and Southeast Asian countries.
04:43 Let me tell you about the story of India, then I will tell about the story of other
04:48 countries.
04:49 Today many of you know about Poshan Abhijan which is Prime Minister's agenda on a holistic
04:57 nutrition.
04:58 Poshan Abhijan talks about a target based intervention and there is a measurable target
05:07 on reduction of anemia, stunting and low birth weight.
05:12 Also there is a commitment towards a mission malnutrition free India to bring down stunting
05:17 to 25 by 2022.
05:20 It is very, very important and it could not have happened without a strong political will.
05:32 We need to create impact among the poor and marginalized and specifically among the people
05:39 who are in malnutrition and hunger hotspots, who are socially excluded, geographically
05:45 excluded, economically excluded or policy level excluded and who are suffering from
05:50 multiple deprivations of property.
05:54 I think we need a responsible nutrition, we need a pro-poor public policy and we need
06:02 people's participation.
06:03 I believe we need the nutrition movement or the nutrition revolution I can say emphatically
06:12 with women at forefront.
06:15 We need to focus on first 1000 days of life.
06:20 If we miss that, we will miss the life throughout and this is the first window of opportunity
06:27 starting from antenatal period till 2 years of age.
06:32 That is very, very important.
06:34 We need to also prioritize the second window of opportunity that is invest on adolescent
06:40 girls, they are the future mothers because unless we invest on adolescent girls, you
06:45 might get malnourished child or child with low birth weight.
06:50 So, it is also necessary we invest on them.
06:54 The third I would suggest investment on micronutrient malnutrition and specifically ensuring dietary
07:03 diversity or food fortification or food enrichment so that the hidden hunger or the micronutrient
07:12 malnutrition is not there because that increases morbidity and later mortality.
07:19 India has lot of problem on complementary feeding for the children under 2 years of
07:25 age.
07:26 Unfortunately, the data speaks that only less than 10 percent of the children get adequate
07:31 diet with quality.
07:35 So, we need dietary diversity, we need appropriate complementary feeding for the children and
07:41 feeding for the children during illness along with breastfeeding during first 1 hour and
07:49 also during first 6 months exclusive breastfeeding and breastfeeding and complementary feeding
07:56 from 6 months to 2 years.
07:59 For that we need demand, we need behavior change, we need for behavior change we need
08:05 interpersonal counseling because that works in nutrition.
08:11 I have been arguing that we need Hamlet level women change leader.
08:17 I name it Janani, join Angan Nutrition for New India.
08:21 India has 6.5 lakh villages, we need around 2.5 to 3 million Hamlet level Jananis women
08:29 change leader who can address social and geographical exclusion, who can go home and spread the
08:36 messages of nutrition through interpersonal counseling and behavior change is also very
08:41 very important.
08:43 [Music]
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