Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has branded malnutrition among children a “national shame”, after a report said nearly half of children under five in the country were underweight.
According to the report, 42% of children in that age bracket are suffering from malnutrition.
Mr Singh said the level of malnutrition in India was “unacceptably high”.
The Hunger and Malnutrition Report also said that one in three malnourished children in the world is Indian.
India was also found to have the highest rate in the world of stunted growth among children.
The report, by a group of non-governmental organisations, surveyed 73,000 households across nine states.
Mr Singh said the government could not rely solely on the Integrated Child Development Services Scheme (ICDS) – India’s largest nutritional programme – to tackle malnutrition.
He said the findings of the report were both “worrying and encouraging”.
Mr Singh said that “health professionals cannot solely concentrate on curative care. Drinking water and sanitation providers cannot be oblivious to the positive externality of their actions. The school teacher needs to be aware of the nutritional needs of the adolescent girl.”