India’s indigenous groups remain vulnerable to malnutrition, despite economic progress, reflecting the reliance on traditional agriculture and the problems of poverty and inadequate education and sanitation. This mixed-methods study analyzed the incidence, causes and determinants of chronic malnutrition, measured through stunting, thinness and underweight among adolescent indigenous girls in Telangana. Using 2017 data on 695 girls aged 11–18 years from 2542 households, the analysis showed that 13% had normal nutritional status, while 87% were stunted, underweight or thin. Early adolescents (11–14 years) had higher underweight prevalence (24.4%), while late adolescents (15–18 years) showed greater stunting (30%). Regressions identified key influencing factors. Higher education levels of heads of households and the girls themselves alongside household toilet access significantly improved nutritional status and reduced stunting and underweight. The sociocultural emphasis on starchy staple-based diets and early marriage also impacted outcomes. Tackling this crisis requires mainstreaming nutrition across development agendas via comprehensive policies, education, communication and community participation. Further research can guide context-specific solutions. But, evidence-based investments in indigenous education, livelihoods, sanitation and women’s empowerment are the first steps. Nutrition-sensitive development is indispensable for indigenous groups to fully participate in and benefit from India’s progress.

Knowledge and evidence on how food value chains can deliver nutrition, especially micronutrients, are limited. A deeper understanding of the food value chains as part of agri-food systems approaches addressing hunger and malnutrition through agricultural development may provide pathways for nutrition and health outcomes.. This systematic review was undertaken using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) to assess the broad topic of value chains and micronutrients, focusing on interventions and their related impact pathways. Impact pathway interventions improving micronutrient delivery and consumption were classified as production, accessibility, marketing, income, knowledge and behavioral, and finally, women’s empowerment pathways. However, the case study evidence on the micronutrient-sensitive value chains for nutritional outcomes is very scant. This review identified that making value chains micronutrient-sensitive requires a multi-stakeholder, integrated approach as a basis for concerted action among various stakeholders in terms of policy, research, strengthening partnerships and coordination, and information sharing. The review illustrates the scarcity of literature with a focus on the micronutrients in the context of food value chains and developing countries. The food value chain approach offers great potential to unpack the complexity of food systems and identify entry points and pathways for improving nutrition outcomes, especially the micronutrients. Additionally, this review identifies multiple entry points and calls for strong advocacy of nutrition-sensitive value chain approaches to combat hidden hunger.

Background Tribal population – especially pregnant and lactating women are susceptible to undernutrition because of low socio-economic, cultural norms and practices regarding dietary habits and practices, market access and availability. Nutrition knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) studies offer an opportunity to better understand the socio-cultural-psychological-behavioural determinants of nutrition, providing an evidence for planning knowledge interventions. Objectives This paper aims to assess nutrition KAP during pregnancy and lactation in selected locations of Adilabad and Komaram Bheem-Asifabad districts of Telangana, India. Methods A cross sectional KAP baseline survey was conducted on 358 individuals in the selected locations during February-March 2020. Tablet based data collection was implemented for pregnant and lactating mothers, and frontline workers (Anganwadi workers, School teachers and Accredited Social Health Activist - ASHA workers). Data was validated, coded and analyzed using STATA. Alongside descriptive statistics, differential weightage method was adopted to generate the knowledge, attitudes and practices scores for the respondents. Results The nutrition knowledge of pregnant and lactating mothers was inadequate less than 50 percent across all the respondents (table 1). Pregnant women scored low on attitudes regarding healthy diets compared to lactating mothers and frontline workers. Attitudes translate into practices, however the baseline data revealed that all categories of respondents were not adopting appropriate dietary and nutrition practices. Scoring percentages on KAP during pregnancy and lactation periods Conclusion The inadequate knowledge by all categories of respondents indicates a gap in nutrition literacy and education. It is planned to co-design, co-create innovative approaches to improve nutrition knowledge through nutrition messaging for a transformative behavior change about nutrition, healthy diets, dietary behaviors and practices.