Lucknow: Sustained efforts to tackle malnutrition among children have started yielding results in Uttar Pradesh, health officials and experts said on Friday, citing data from the recent National Family Health Survey.As per the numbers, the proportion of under-five children classified as stunted — having low heights for their age — fell from 39.7% in NFHS-5 to 31.5% in NFHS-6.At the national level, stunting declined from 35.5% to 29.3% during the corresponding surveys.Mission director, National Health Mission, Pinky Jowal said the state was focusing on maternal nutrition, exclusive breastfeeding for six months, timely complementary feeding, infection prevention and regular growth monitoring.KGMU professor Shalini Tripathi said the first 1,000 days, from pregnancy to a child’s second birthday, were critical for preventing malnutrition. She stressed the importance of adequate maternal nutrition, breastfeeding, timely vaccination and appropriate complementary feeding.The state is also providing freshly cooked meals to children aged three to six years through the Hot Cooked Meal Scheme under Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan-2.0.
