India’s National Nutrition Mission, or POSHAN Abhiyaan, recognizes the multisectoral nature of the challenge of malnutrition and identifies “convergence” as one of its key pillars. It looks at convergence between different ministries and departments at the national, state, district, block and village levels. Conventionally, convergence in nutrition has been understood as the provision of a common platform for different organizations and stakeholders to come together and ensure better coordination. Source: IFPRI South Asia Office
Stopping Muzaffarpur Child Deaths Will Require a Gender-Sensitive Social Analysis
Muzaffarpur is emblematic of a hot spot for undernutrition in India. With one in two children stunted, Muzaffarpur lags India’s average by ten percentage points. One in two women is anaemic and one in three is underweight. Although most infants are breastfed and exclusive breastfeeding is high, other aspects of infant diets are abysmal and childhood illness is high. Other social determinants of malnutrition – early marriage, poverty, open defecation and more – offer a case study in what one could call a “perfect storm” of risk factors. Source: IFPRI South Asia Office
