The Indian government has drawn up a road map to tackle under-nutrition or stunting, which contributes to one-third of under-five child deaths among tribal children.

“Stunting in tribal children, like that of all other children, is influenced by a multitude of factors including household food insecurity, maternal nutrition in the first two years of life and poor access to water, health and sanitation services. The central focus of this conclave is to emphasise how various government departments can coordinate, contribute and collaborate for reducing stunting in India’s tribal children,” the Ministry said in a statement.
The conclave will also discuss challenges in the National Tribal Policy and ensuring better utilisation of tribal sub-plan budgets.
According to the National Family Health Survey-3 (2005-06), the country has the highest number of stunted children and most of them are from tribal communities.
“Stunting adversely affects a child’s survival, health, development, learning capacity, school performance and productivity in adulthood,” the statement added
Source-Medindia