The need

Despite its rapid economic growth, India faces the enormous challenge of providing optimal nutrition to its 1.3 billion people.

Read the India Country Brief

Malnutrition has severe effects on India’s children under five:

  • Nearly 36% of children under five are underweight, 21% are wasted and nearly 38% are stunted
  • Diarrhoeal diseases continue to be a significant cause of childhood morbidity and mortality

Anemia continues to be a significant public health concern:

  • Nearly 53% women (15-49 years), 59% of children (6-59 months) and 50 % pregnant women are anaemic

There is a critical need to address the burden of malnutrition in the country by scaling up core nutrition interventions.

Our solution

Together, we’re improving women and children’s health through nutrition interventions for women, adolescent girls and young children.

For more than 20 years, Nutrition International has been working in India alongside government ministries to strengthen and address the country’s nutrition challenges.

Through a multi-pronged approach focusing on planning, supply chain management, capacity building, behaviour change communication, monitoring, review and evaluation we aim to improve the survival and health of those who need it most, especially women, adolescent girls and young children. Key interventions aimed at strengthening the existing health, nutrition and food systems include:

  • Food fortification
    • Salt iodization
    • Double fortified salt (iron and iodine)
    • Wheat flour fortification (iron and folic acid)
    • Rice fortification (iron, folic acid and vitamin B12)
  • Supplementation
    • Iron and folic acid
    • Vitamin A
  • Newborn care and infant and young child nutrition services
    • Essential newborn care including early initiation of and exclusive breastfeeding
    • Kangaroo mother care
    • Complementary feeding
    • Monitoring the Integrated Child Development Services program
    • Counseling of mothers and caregivers for checking children’s growth stages
    • Preventing conditions of mild, moderately acute, or severely acute malnutrition and relapse
  • Maternal health and nutrition
    • Gap identification through facility assessments
    • Tracking of high-risk pregnancies
    • Strengthening health facilities

Contact information

Get in touch.

Country Director, India
Mini Varghese
Email: mvarghese@NutritionIntl.org

Nutrition International India 
B-28, 2nd Floor
Qutab Institutional Area
New Delhi – 110016, India

Telephone: + 91 11 4686 2000
Fax: + 91 11 4686 2048