Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said he would give India “an A” for its focus on solving the problem of malnutrition. Talking to news agency PTI, he said, “Well, India, for its income level, acknowledges that some of these nutritional indicators are weaker than it would like. That kind of frankness and focus on it, I think is very impressive.”
India is more focused on the issue than any other government, he said, adding, “It’s using the public feeding system and the Midday Meal System to try and get fortified foods out, but it’s still a huge opportunity. I would give India an A for focus on the problem.”
He continued, “I think it probably would rate itself maybe a B for the education but with the real serious intent to do even better.”
The understanding of malnutrition has improved a lot, he said, adding that the Gates Foundation is the biggest funder there.
“Part of that’s been understanding the complex system in your gut, which involves a lot of bacteria. It’s called the microbiome. But what we’ve seen is that if you’re missing certain vitamins or if you’re missing protein, some kids, their gut gets inflamed, so they can’t absorb the food they’re eating, and they simply don’t grow,” he said.
One of the tragedies of malnutrition is measuring how much a kid loses in terms of their physical capabilities and mental capabilities because of malnutrition at a young age, he said.
“We haven’t had a very good measure of that. We’re getting better at that,” he said.
Solving malnutrition or even just reducing it has two gigantic benefits, he said.
“One is that a well-nourished kid is far less likely, twice as less likely to die as they face various disease episodes like diarrhoea or pneumonia during their early years; but the second thing, which is absolutely gigantic, is that because in those early years, your malnutrition, deficits, you can’t recover,” he said.
“India is a great example where if we can reduce malnutrition, it literally helps drive meaningful economic growth,” he said.
Responding to a question, Gates said India can play an important role in this area, explaining, “It’s the place where these new approaches like the probiotic where we have the trials going on. The cost of getting the anaemia in one-time infusion down, it’s the Indian private sector making investments in that. And as we see the success of the interventions, that will clearly indicate that in Africa, which has an even more challenging malnutrition problem than India does, what should be the priority in those countries.”