ITANAGAR, Sep 21: Arunachal Pradesh received the national award for being the second best performing state after Gujarat in reducing the cases of childhood stunting.
The award was presented by Minister for Women and Child Development, Maneka Sanjay Gandhi in New Delhi on September 19, informed Director of the Department of Women and Child Development T P Loyi, in an official release.
Stunting among the children below five years in the state has reduced from 43.3 percent (NFHS-3) to 29.4 percent (NFHS-4).
Besides Arunachal Pradesh and Gujarat, the two other states, which received the award, were Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh.
Stunned growth or stunting is when a child is too short for his/her age compared to the WHO child growth standards.
The main causes of stunting are poor diet, poor hygiene and sanitation practices, poverty and food insecurity, poor maternal nutrition during pregnancy and insufficient breastfeeding, repeated illness, especially diarrhoea and low access to health services, the release said.
