Malnutrition Responsible for 15% of India’s Total Disease Burden in 2016 – Report

As per ‘India State-level Disease Burden Initiative Report’, child and maternal malnutrition was responsible for 15 per cent of the total disease burden in 2016 across India.

About ‘India State-level Disease Burden Initiative Report’:

The report was released by Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu on November 14, 2017.

• Analysis of disease burden for each Indian state from 1990 to 2016 has been presented in this report.
• This report has been jointly prepared by the Indian Council of Medical Research, the Public Health Foundation of India and Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.
• It has been funded by Indian Council of Medical Research, Department of Health Research under Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Highlights of ‘India State-level Disease Burden Initiative Report’:

As per the report, prevalence of child and maternal malnutrition is higher in ‘Empowered Action Group’ States and Assam.

• Eight less developed states – Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh – are referred to as the Empowered Action Group(EAG) states and they receive special development attention from Central Government.
• It is to be noted that child and maternal malnutrition adds to disease burden as it increases the risk of neonatal disorders, diarrhoeal diseases, nutritional deficiencies, lower respiratory infections, and other common infections.
• On a comparative basis, in 2016, disease burden due to child and maternal malnutrition (in per person terms) in India was 12 times higher than in China.
• However, the report outlined that disease burden due to malnutrition in India has dropped substantially since 1990.
• Among all Indian states, Kerala had the lowest disease burden from malnutrition.
• The report highlighted that contribution of most of the major non-communicable disease to the total disease burden had increased all over India since 1990.
• Among the non-communicable diseases, diabetes and heart disease have been the leading contributors to disease burden from 1990 to 2016.
• The contribution of injuries (sustained due to road accidents and self harm) to the total disease burden has also increased in most Indian states since 1990.