The Nutrition Development Marketplace was held in Dhaka on Wednesday August 5th. Twenty-one civil society organizations from across South Asia won grants from an $840,000 award pool funded by the South Asia Region Development Marketplace (DM). The winners received up to $40,000 each to implement innovative ideas on how to improve nutrition in their respective countries.
Titled “Family and Community Approaches to Improve Infant and Young Child Nutrition,” the competition was designed to identify some of the most innovative ideas to improve nutrition, focusing especially on children under two years of age and pregnant women.
South Asia has experienced high economic growth during the last decade. The region, however, still has both the highest rates and the largest numbers of undernourished children in the world. While poverty is often the underlying cause of child undernutrition, the high economic growth experienced by South Asian countries has not made an impact on the nutritional status of South Asian children.
Why South Asia has the largest numbers of undernourished and micronourished children in the world?
South Asia’s undernourishment problem has many numbers of factors, including the following: Low birth weight, infant and young child feeding practices, poor household hygiene, and status of women in society.
This video, A Call for Action, highlights some of the challenges and opportunities of undernutrition in the South Asia region with a focus on India.
India's 2005 National Family Health Survey found that 46% of children below the age of 3 years were underweight and 38% were stunted. The survey findings highlighed that neither economic growth nor food security is likely to be sufficient to lower the prevalence of malnutrition. What other thnigs do you think can be done to address this very important issue?