The Chief Minister's Nutrition Campaign in Chhattisgarh has proved to be a grand success as nearly 1.70 lakh children were freed from malnutrition in the past three years.

An official communication on Sunday said that according to data of the "Vajan Tyohar" (weight festival) organized by the Department of Women and Child Development from 2016 to 2022, the rate of malnutrition has dropped down considerably.

The data reveals that the rate of child malnutrition has come down from 30.13 percent to just 19.86 percent. The reduction by about 10.27 percent is a remarkable achievement in Chhattisgarh.

The Department takes the weight of all children in a particular period and determines the nutritional level during the weight festival. The state government has ensured that the data of the weight festival is verified by external agencies as well.

As per the data of the National Family Health Survey-5, the rate of malnutrition has fallen in Chhattisgarh.

The national average for malnutrition is 32.1 percent while in Chhattisgarh it is 31.3 percent. Thus, malnutrition in Chhattisgarh is less than the national average.

Besides, according to the National Family Health Survey-4 2015-16, the rate of malnutrition in Chhattisgarh was 37.7 percent while the national average rate at that time was 35.8 per cent.

The report of the National Family Health reveals that efforts made by the Chhattisgarh government to reduce malnutrition have shown positive results.

Meanwhile, according to NFHS-5, the level of malnutrition among children in Chhattisgarh is less than the states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, West Bengal, Assam, Karnataka, Jharkhand and Bihar.