**16. Conclusion**

The facts and discussion presented above, highlights the worrying unacceptably high prevalence and universality of malnutrition in all its forms in Indian communities, but it is both preventable and treatable. Beyond health, malnutrition is also impacting the social and economic development. In Indian context, poverty, maternal health illiteracy, LBW, diseases like diarrhoea, home environment, dietary practices, hand washing and poor hygiene practices are few important factors responsible for very high prevalence of malnutrition. Government of India has rolled out various community nutritional programmes to combat malnutrition and to get nutrition on track. Despite enormous challenges, India has made considerable progress in tackling hunger and undernutrition in the past two decades, yet this pace of change has been unacceptably slow, uneven and many have been left behind. But with sustained prioritization, increased resource allocation, adopting comprehensive, coordinated and holistic approach with good governance and help of civil society, India has the potential to end malnutrition in all its forms and turn the ambition of the Sustainable Development Goals into a reality for everyone.
