Centre to roll out AI-based tools for child malnutrition monitoring: Ministry of Women and Child Development Secretary

New Delhi: Ministry of Women and Child Development Secretary Anil Malik on Tuesday said that the ministry is preparing to deploy AI-based growth monitoring tools to track malnutrition among children.

Speaking at an AI summit, he stated that the ministry is entering a phase of large-scale deployment of AI tools, particularly through digital recordings, to monitor child growth and detect early signs of malnutrition.

The initiative aims to enable real-time tracking and strengthen targeted interventions in nutrition programmes.

Insisting that artificial intelligence to significantly enhance monitoring capabilities in large welfare networks such as Anganwadi services, Malik said the ministry is also planning to introduce an AI-enabled chatbot to assist Anganwadi workers.

The chatbot is designed to provide frontline workers with quick guidance on nutrition, health practices, and programme implementation, thereby improving service delivery at the grassroots level.

Under the POSHAN Abhiyaan (Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition), the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development has already provided over 1.1 million smartphones to Anganwadi workers. The government is currently in the process of upgrading these devices to 5G-enabled phones, he said.