If you have been following our weekly data story, you may have noticed that last week, we showed the shockingly-high rate of anaemia in children aged 6-59 months in NE. The effect of this is visible in the stunted growth of children aged 6-59 months too, and this week, we will focus on these numbers.
The National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-5 reveals that India has unacceptably high levels of stunting. In 2019-20, 35.5 per cent of children below five years were stunted, which explains why India ranks 116 out of 174 countries on the human capital index. Lack of investment in health and education leads to slower economic growth.
In the Northeast, Sikkim performs best in this matrix. About 15% of children in urban Sikkim are stunted, while in rural Sikkim, about 1 in 4 children under the age of 5 are stunted. Arunachal and Manipur are relatively better placed than Meghalaya. Assam and Tripura have scope for improvement, but perform better than the national average.
The worst performer in this matrix is Meghalaya, where almost 1 in 2 children are stunted in the rural region. While Urban Meghalaya performs better, it is still at 35.1%.
Why is this data important? The World Bank says, “A 1 per cent loss in adult height due to childhood stunting is associated with a 1.4 per cent loss in economic productivity.” Stunting also has lasting effects on future generations. When we see the high rates of anaemia among women, children and then see the same reflect in high rates of stunting among children, we realise that the region’s policymakers need to come up with much more effective and targeted strategies to counter this issue.
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