In a blog article published in Brookings Future Development earlier this week, and based on four policy briefs developed by Pharos (available at https://pharosglobalhealth.com/resources/), three Pharos staff and Dr. Rajan Sankar (Program Director- Nutrition at Tata Trusts) describe the current state of malnutrition in India and the challenges facing the government’s premier nutrition initiative under the Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) — the Take-Home Rations (THR) program.
This multi-billion dollar government-financed program has tremendous potential to improve malnutrition across India, yet changes are urgently needed to make the most of it, including steps to improve THR formulation and composition; strengthen the diverse production and distribution systems that currently operate across India’s states; and enhance monitoring and accountability.
If adopted, the recommendations we make in our briefs would provide a more solid foundation for India to achieve its ambitious nutrition Vision 2022 targets and alleviate malnutrition for millions of children and women.