Geo-visualising Diet, Anthroprometric and Clinical Indicators for Children in India: Enabling District Prioritisation for Interventions

Abstract

The nutritional status of children in India fares much worse in global comparisons. Using the disaggregated data from the fourth National Family Health Survey (NFHS 2015-16), we present a dashboard and atlas for 31 nutritional indicators that include diet, anthropometry, clinical and service utilization measures of child nutrition for the districts of India. The geo-visualisations are presented with a motivation to help various stakeholders prioritise indicators and districts for interventions.

Notwithstanding the value of utilising the summary data for select indicators made available by the fifth NFHS (2019-20) for 17 states and 5 Union Territories, it is important to note that a truly all-India picture covering all districts of India will not be available at least until the later part of 2021. Even as we await the availability of disaggregated data for a full range of indicators, there remains much to be investigated and learned from a more detailed examination of the fourth round of the NFHS.