Progress to improve nutrition among women, infants and children in South Asia has fallen behind the pace needed to meet established global targets.
Poverty is endemic in the highly populated Eastern Gangetic Plains where agriculture is critical to more than half the population. However, the mechanisms to support agriculture for development are contested.
COVID-19 has revived focus on improving equitable access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and health services in developing countries. Most public programming tends to rely on economic indicators to identify and target vulnerable groups.
Maternal depression has been associated with adverse child growth and development; less is known about its relation to children's diet.
Developmental delays affect between 150 and 200 million children <5 years of age worldwide.