Only 15.3% children aged 6-23 months receive adequate diet: NFHS-6

New Delhi ( Pallavi Srivastava) : The latest National Family Health Survey (NFHS-6) data has revealed a worrying trend in child nutrition, with a substantial proportion of children aged 6-23 months still not getting an adequate diet despite some improvement witnessed over the previous years.

According to the data, the proportion of children in the 6-23-month age group receiving an adequate diet stood at 15.3% in NFHS-6, up from 11% in NFHS-5.

This means that Indian toddlers are still missing out on the diverse and frequent meals required for healthy growth and brain development, despite improvements in food availability and government nutrition programmes.

Survey also shows decline in exclusive breastfeeding among children aged under six months, from 63.7% in NFHS-5 to 55.8% in NFHS-6.