Over the last two decades, severe acute malnutrition (SAM) has been increasing in India despite f... more Over the last two decades, severe acute malnutrition (SAM) has been increasing in India despite favourable national-level economic growth. The latest round of the National Family Health Survey 5 (NFHS-5) results was released, allowing us to assess changes in the malnutrition trends. Analysis of the previous rounds of the NFHS (NFHS-4) has already shown disturbing levels of wasting, often co-occurring with other forms of anthropometric failures. These have been shown to occur in clusters of districts across India that already needed urgent policy and programmatic action. A rapid assessment of data from NFHS-5 for some of these districts for which data are now available shows an alarming increase in SAM in several malnutrition hotspot districts. Surprisingly, some districts outside hotspots and in states and regions that have previously not been known for high malnutrition too have shown increasing SAM prevalence in the latest round. The data from NFHS-5 was collected just before the ...
Evidence-informed policy action has improved the health of populations for decades; however, in m... more Evidence-informed policy action has improved the health of populations for decades; however, in many contexts, there is limited evidence that it does, mostly because of shortcomings in the process of policy-making. Evidence-based policy-making assists in making decisions about projects and programmes at every stage by using evidence to inform the policy process, rather than directly targeting the objectives of the policy. Although health policy in itself is defined distinctively by experts, it encompasses aspects of ‘public policy in health’ and ‘health in all policies’. By focussing on factors like laws and regulations, and by gaining political commitment for a specific goal, health policies and the resulting programmes can be changed and improved to enhance the health of communities. This process first involves the identification and description of the problem and the evidence-based interventions to solve it. While planning policy, the major actors involved should be identified bu...
Over the last two decades, severe acute malnutrition (SAM) has been increasing in India despite f... more Over the last two decades, severe acute malnutrition (SAM) has been increasing in India despite favourable national-level economic growth. The latest round of the National Family Health Survey 5 (NFHS-5) results was released, allowing us to assess changes in the malnutrition trends. Analysis of the previous rounds of the NFHS (NFHS-4) has already shown disturbing levels of wasting, often co-occurring with other forms of anthropometric failures. These have been shown to occur in clusters of districts across India that already needed urgent policy and programmatic action. A rapid assessment of data from NFHS-5 for some of these districts for which data are now available shows an alarming increase in SAM in several malnutrition hotspot districts. Surprisingly, some districts outside hotspots and in states and regions that have previously not been known for high malnutrition too have shown increasing SAM prevalence in the latest round. The data from NFHS-5 was collected just before the ...
Evidence-informed policy action has improved the health of populations for decades; however, in m... more Evidence-informed policy action has improved the health of populations for decades; however, in many contexts, there is limited evidence that it does, mostly because of shortcomings in the process of policy-making. Evidence-based policy-making assists in making decisions about projects and programmes at every stage by using evidence to inform the policy process, rather than directly targeting the objectives of the policy. Although health policy in itself is defined distinctively by experts, it encompasses aspects of ‘public policy in health’ and ‘health in all policies’. By focussing on factors like laws and regulations, and by gaining political commitment for a specific goal, health policies and the resulting programmes can be changed and improved to enhance the health of communities. This process first involves the identification and description of the problem and the evidence-based interventions to solve it. While planning policy, the major actors involved should be identified bu...
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Papers by Deepshikha Chhetri