New Delhi, Apr 25, 2013: The estimated number of underweight children with 42.5 per cent would be 5,62,37,872 in under five population as per National Family Health Survey 3 (NFHS3- 2005-06).
The Government has accorded high priority to the issue of malnutrition in the country and is implementing several schemes/programmes of different Ministries/Departments through State Governments/UT Administrations.

Raipur, Apr 10, 2013: The infant mortality rate has marginally come down in Chhattisgarh in the last three years, according to the official statistics.
"The state government's joint initiative with UNICEF to control infant mortality rate have started showing results and continuously the infant mortality rate is declining here," an official said on Wednesday.
"According to recent figures, the infant mortality rate has come down to 48 from 51 per 1,000 in 2010," the official said.

Mar 22, 2013: Every day, nearly 2,000 children around the world aged under five die from diarrhoeal diseases linked to unsafe drinking water, poor sanitation and hygiene, with 24 per cent of the deaths occurring in India alone, a UN report has warned.
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) child mortality data reveals that about half of under-five deaths occur in only five countries: India, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Pakistan and China.
Two countries – India (24 per cent) and Nigeria (11 per cent) – together account for more than a third of

Eugene, Ore., Mar 19, 2013: In the state of Andhra Pradesh in southeast India, villagers are learning the basics on clean water, bad hygiene and why that's a bad combination.
"Most of the time they are defecating out in the open. They don't have latrines. They don't really understand the need for latrines," said Kaytie Fiedler, team leader with India Partners.
For millions of people in India, lack of clean water is a constant battle.

New Delhi, Feb 1, 2012: It's official — India is the most dangerous place in the world to be a baby girl. Newly released data shows that an Indian girl child aged 1-5 years is 75% more likely to die than an Indian boy, making this the worst gender differential in child mortality for any country in the world.

According to joint UNICEF and WHO (2012) estimates for 2010, 15 percent of people in the world openly defecate without any toilet or latrine; 60 percent of these live in India. The global impact of poor sanitation on infant and child death and health is profound. Black et al. (2003) estimate that 10 million children under 5 die every year { 2.4 million of them in India { and that a fth to a quarter of these deaths are due to diarrhea.

New Delhi, March 31, 2012: First the good news - nearly 1.41 lakh fewer children died in India in 2010 before reaching their fifth birthday than in 2009. This means nearly 388 fewer children aged 0-4 years died per day.
Before you start celebrating, consider this -- 15.41 lakh children died in India in 2010 under the age of five. What's worse, more females died than their male counterparts. While India in 2010 saw over 7.43 lakh male children aged 0-4 years die, the number for female children stood at 8.06 lakh.

Girls under ten being have been raped while on their way to use a public toilet, say women living in Delhi’s slums. In one slum, boys hid in toilet cubicles at night waiting to rape those who entered. These are some of the incidents mentioned in a recent briefing note based on research supported by WaterAid and the DFID-funded SHARE (Sanitation and Hygiene Applied Research for Equity).

New Delhi, Dec 23, 2011: The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare will soon launch a Weekly Iron and Folic Supplementation (WIFS) programme. The programme, implemented across the country both (rural and urban areas) will cover nearly 12 Crore adolescents. The Ministry has suggested to the States that a fixed day in a week, preferably a Monday, be earmarked as the day when Iron and Folic Acid tablet is provided to adolescents. Funding for implementation of the scheme to the States would be provided under the National Rural Health Mission.

New Delhi, Dec 23, 2011: The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare will soon launch a Weekly Iron and Folic Supplementation (WIFS) programme. The programme, implemented across the country both (rural and urban areas) will cover nearly 12 Crore adolescents. The Ministry has suggested to the States that a fixed day in a week, preferably a Monday, be earmarked as the day when Iron and Folic Acid tablet is provided to adolescents. Funding for implementation of the scheme to the States would be provided under the National Rural Health Mission.