The Indian Council for Medical Research, ICMR today organised a daylong National Consultation on Addressing Nutritional Challenges and discussed the state of malnutrition in the country.<br/><br/>Addressing a press conference after the Consultation, Dr Soumya Swaminathan, Director General, ICMR said the objective of the consultation is to review the existing surveillance and national data on malnutrition and to discuss future strategies for nutrition research including interventions to improve nutritional status, especially among children and adolescents.<br/><br/>The meeting also discussed ways to chalk out a plan to make national health surveys more effective and cost-productive. The members in consultation also discussed issues including impact evaluation of the existing iron supplementation programme, 'National Iron Plus Initiative', supplementation of Vitamin B12 and Vitamin C.<br/><br/>The panel also observed that child mortality rate had steeply declined from 2005 to 2015, but the relative proportion of Low Birth Weight, LBW and prematurity is still is a matter of concern, which needs to be addressed.