Niti Aayog’s data reveals that 39% children under five are stunted, 62.5% of pregnant women aged 15-49 are anaemic, and 25.2% of women in the same age group have a Body Mass Index below 18.5. The prevalence of underweight and stunted children, and anaemic women has increased compared to 2018 and 2019.“With Gujarat’s SDG-2 index dropping from 46 in 2020-21 to 41 in 2023-24, and with 39.7% of children under five being underweight and 62.5% of pregnant women anemic, achieving zero hunger by 2030 necessitates urgent and substantial investment in nutrition-focused initiatives,” said Atman Shah, assistant professor in the department of Economics at St Xavier’s College (autonomous) in Ahmedabad.The 2023 MPI report revealed that nearly half of the rural Gujarat population was deprived of nutrition (44.45 per cent) and 28.97 per cent in urban areas.
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