Affordability of a Healthy Diet

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Apart from maintaining social distancing and wearing masks, the next most heard and most stressed point for the last couple of months has been to build our immunity by eating right. The importance of a healthy diet and problem of malnutrition are no alien to anyone, yet so neglected. SOFI (Satate of Food Security and Nutrition in the world) 2020 states that a "healthy diet" costs $4.07 a day. The international poverty line is $1.90 per person per day according to PPP(Purchasing Power Parity). In India, as defined by the Tendulkar Committee in 2011-12 it stands at Rs. 33 per person per day in urban areas and Rs. 27 per person per day in rural areas which is equivalent to approximately $1 a day at international PPP prices. Thus, the Indian poverty line is lower than the international poverty line. This analysis from FAO clearly shows that a healthy diet (not a luxurious or excessive one by any means) is unaffordable for those with incomes at even twice the poverty line. This is appalling. SOFI 2020 shows that 58% of South Asians (1337 million people) cannot afford a healthy diet and this number will surely surge owing to mass unemployment especially in the informal sector due to the pandemic. To eliminate malnutrition the issue of affordability of a healthy diet should be addressed.