New Delhi: In a letter addressed to Health Minister J P Nadda, a group of 16 medical practitioners, most of whom are paediatricians, has urged the government to take policy initiatives focusing more on preventive ways for Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) cases among children below five years of age than treating their state of illness with ready to use therapeutic food (RUTF). The letter, dated April 19, cited recently released National Family and Health Survey-4 data, which indicates improvement in child nutrition indicators since NFHS 3 (2005) survey. Under-five prevalence of stunting has reduced from 48% to 38.4%, underweight from 42.5% to 35.7%, but severe wasting has marginally increased from 6.4% to 7.5%. However, the annual reduction of underweight and stunting is 1%, which needs acceleration. Further, severe wasting needs to be addressed in a sustainable manner.

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