Tracking India’s progress on addressing malnutrition and enhancing the use of data to improve programs

Developed together with NITI Aayog, this document covers issues that need to be considered in the strengthening of efforts to improve the availability and use of data generated through the work of POSHAN Abhiyaan, India’s National Nutrition Mission. The paper provides guidance for national-, state-, and district-level government officials and stakeholders regarding the use of data to track progress on nutrition interventions, immediate and underlying determinants, and outcomes. It examines the availability of data across a range of interventions in the POSHAN Abhiyaan framework, including population-based surveys and administrative data systems; it then makes recommendations for the improvement of data availability and use.

To improve monitoring and data use, this document focuses on three questions: what types of indicators should be used; what types of data sources can be used; and with what frequency should progress on different indicator domains be assessed.