Syllabus: GS-I, Subject: Society and Social Justice, Topic: Poverty, Hunger and developmental issues, Issue: Zero food children
Context: A study published in the peer-reviewed JAMA Network Open journal.
Zero-food children are infants who have not eaten any food of substantial calorific content — semi-solid, solid,soft, or mushy food, infant formula or fresh milk — for 24 hours.
Highlights of the study:
- The prevalence of zero-food children in India at around 19%.
- India has the third-highest percentage of zero-food children.
- In terms of numbers, India has the highest number of zero-food children at more than six million.
- Uttar Pradesh alone accounts for around 28% of zero-food children in India.
Reasons:
- Poverty and marginalisation in economic background.
- Rapid industrialisation resulting in nuclear families
- Lack of awareness about the nutritional needs of children, and misconceptions,
