Is India healthier today, or just differently unhealthy?

India has made progress against undernutrition, but obesity, diabetes and other lifestyle-related risks are rising at the same time. In today's 'YOUR INDIA' column, Santosh Nair writes on the country’s changing health burden and why both problems now need attention together.

A grandmother remembers a childhood shaped by too little food, and the small, constant worry that came with it. Her grandson, growing up in the same city, has never known that particular fear. He has, instead, a blood sugar report his doctor is keeping a close eye on, at an age his grandmother finds almost impossible to believe.

Both of these are part of the same country’s health story, happening at the same time, sometimes inside the very same family.

Read more: Do you know what health coverage you’re already entitled to?

India’s latest National Family Health Survey shows real, genuine progress on one long-standing front. Stunting among children under five, a measure of chronic undernutrition, fell from 35.5 per cent in 2019–21 to 29.3 per cent by 2023–24, a meaningful improvement of nearly six percentage points in just a few years. This reflects real gains, better maternal nutrition, expanded government feeding programmes, and improved sanitation and healthcare access reaching........

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