Good health is beneficial for not only the individual but the nation as well. A healthy individual has the ability to work and produce healthy offspring and the key to good health is a healthy and nutritious diet. Unfortunately, approximately 15% of our country’s population doesn’t consume enough food. The 85% lucky enough to receive meals waste 40% of them.
An individual’s health for their lifetime is usually determined by their nourishment in their early years. If a pregnant woman is undernourished, her child will also be born malnourished. Also, healthy newborns who don’t receive proper amounts of nutritious foods are most prone to diseases. Nearly half of the children under the age of five die of ailments caused by lack of food and an unhealthy, improper diet. Those who manage to survive, too, end up suffering for the rest of their life and contributing to the country’s unemployed population.
A major cause of malnourishment is poverty and bad hygiene. Due to low incomes, people are left with no choice but to either starve or eat the unhygienic meal which lacks quality as well as quantity. They end up suffering from ailments caused by undernourishment, and cannot afford proper healthcare for the same, leading to further spread of the diseases. On the other hand, the privileged population wastes almost half of the food offered to them, and this imbalanced division of food between the rich and poor leads to malnutrition AND food wastage.
To help reduce the rate of malnutrition in India, you can:
1. Donate to NGOs, websites, social groups, etc, that are providing food to the poor. Although you cannot always reach out directly, you can help people by donating and spreading awareness!
2. Work towards the betterment of hygiene in our country, as most diseases that lead to malnourishment are caused by meals being prepared in an unhygienic manner.
3. Help reduce wastage of food! Make sure you only buy and consume as much food as you require, and do not waste the food you have been blessed with!
If we work together, we can help make India healthy and happy!
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