6% of adolescent girls are anaemic; nearly one in four adolescents is under- or overweight
New Delhi, October 16, 2025: India must treat adolescence as its “second window of growth” and invest urgently in nutrition, education, and healthy food systems to avert a looming health and productivity crisis, experts said at the 3rd International Conference on Public Health and Nutrition (ICPHN 2025), organised by Sukarya in New Delhi.
Sukarya convened the conference to bring together leading voices in public health and nutrition to share knowledge and shape actionable solutions that can redefine India’s adolescent health landscape.
Adolescent Health: A National Priority
Prof. K. Srinath Reddy, Chancellor, Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), cautioned that neglecting adolescent nutrition would “lock in intergenerational poverty and poor health outcomes.”
“Adolescence offers a biological and social opportunity to reset health trajectories. The choices young people make now — what they eat, how active they are — will decide India’s disease burden in 2047,” he said, urging alignment between food, agriculture, and education policies and stronger regulation of ultra-processed and high-sugar foods.
Citing NFHS-5 data, he noted that 56% of adolescent girls are anaemic and nearly one in four adolescents is under- or overweight, warning that this “double burden” of malnutrition threatens India’s demographic dividend. “Policy must make the healthy choice the easy choice,” he added.
Investing in Adolescents: Moral and Economic Returns
Dr. Deepika Nayar, Senior Health, Nutrition and Population Specialist at the World Bank, highlighted that adolescent health is both a moral and economic imperative.
“Every dollar invested in adolescent health yields a tenfold return through higher productivity and lower disease burden,” she said. “We must scale up proven initiatives like WIFS (Weekly Iron and Folic Acid Supplementation) and RKSK (Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram), and integrate digital tools and community platforms for real-time nutrition monitoring.”
Food Systems Reform Key to Better Nutrition
From the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), Dr. Supreet Kaur emphasised that adolescent nutrition cannot be seen in isolation from broader food-system reforms.
“One in five deaths globally is linked to poor diets. We need integrated strategies — clear food labelling, waste reduction, and fiscal incentives for nutritious produce — to reshape consumption behaviour,” she said.
UNICEF Flags Triple Burden of Malnutrition
Ms. Preetu Mishra, Nutrition Specialist at UNICEF India, described India’s adolescents as facing a “triple burden” — undernutrition, over-nutrition, and micronutrient deficiencies.
“Childhood obesity has already overtaken underweight globally. Without policy action, we risk a generation suffering both stunting and lifestyle diseases,” she warned, advocating front-of-pack labels, taxation of high-fat, salt, and sugar foods, and youth-led nutrition literacy programmes.
Regional Insights from Malaysia
Dr. Satvinder Kaur, Associate Professor at UCSI University, Malaysia, offered a regional comparison, noting that Malaysian adolescents consume sufficient protein but often from fried or processed foods.
“Promoting diverse protein sources — eggs, fish, soy, and tempeh — supported by school initiatives and sugar taxes, has yielded positive outcomes,” she said, suggesting India could adapt similar models.
Pre-Conception Health: The Missing Link
Dr. Shweta Khandelwal, Vice President, Social and Economic Empowerment at IPE Global, stressed that adolescent nutrition interventions must begin well before pregnancy.
“With 11% of births in India still among adolescents, pre-conception care and awareness must be built into every maternal-health programme,” she said. “We need to move from seeing youth as beneficiaries to engaging them as co-creators of health solutions.”
Data-Driven Decisions for Adolescent Growth
Dr. Suman Chakrabarti, Associate Research Fellow at IFPRI, presented new national data showing plateauing height trends and rising obesity among adolescents.
“Adolescents are not growing taller but wider — a worrying sign of hidden hunger and excess calories,” he said. “Updated, age- and gender-disaggregated data are essential for targeted policy design.”
Collaborative Policy Convergence Needed
Conference Chair Dr. Sujeet Ranjan, CEO of United Way Delhi, called for cross-sectoral collaboration.
“No single sector can solve this. We need convergence — health, education, agriculture, and urban policy must talk to each other. Only then can adolescent health become a national mission,” he said.
Sukarya’s Commitment to Adolescent Well-Being
Closing the conference, Ms. Meera Satpathy, Founder & Chairperson of Sukarya, reiterated the organisation’s commitment to advancing adolescent health and well-being.
“This year’s focus — ‘Adolescent Health: Advancing Well-being and Nutrition’ — brings together global and local partners to safeguard the health, rights, and potential of young Indians,” she said.
“Through our RMCHN, Adolescent Health, and Gender Equality programs, we will scale proven models that integrate nutrition, gender equality, and digital innovation. Our guiding belief remains — ‘Begin from home and Begin when young.’”
She concluded, “We look forward to building a nation where every adolescent grows with nourishment, learns with confidence, leads with courage, and lives with dignity.”
