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Food and Nutrition Security/ Mid Day Meal Scheme/ ICDS/ PDS | Phulwaris in southern Rajasthan helping tribals fight malnutrition -Rakesh Goswami

Phulwaris in southern Rajasthan helping tribals fight malnutrition -Rakesh Goswami

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published Published on Sep 21, 2016   modified Modified on Sep 21, 2016
-Hindustan Times

Jaipur: Three-year-old Pawan of Dhaikheda village in Salumbder block of Udaipur district loves his new routine. He goes to a phulwari, a day-care centre, in Medifala under Bedawal gram panchayat every day at 9 am where he gets three meals, plays with toys as young tribal women from the area read out to him poems and stories.

His two sisters had died of malnutrition. Pawan too was diagnosed with acute malnutrition in May 2016. But since July, when he started going to the day-care centre for the children in the age group of 6 months to 3 years, there’s been a marked improvement in his health.

Phulwari, the Hindi word for a garden of flowers, is running in nine villages of Salumber block in southern Rajasthan to provide supplementary nutrition, and education for early child development and monthly health check-up to tribal children who are undernourished and wasted. There are 106 children enrolled in these phulwaris.

Experts say more than half of the tribal population in southern Rajasthan lives below the poverty line. Due to limited livelihood options at home, small land holdings and dependence on erratic rains for cultivation, men migrate to industrial towns, leaving women to attend to multiple chores such as farming, tending to livestock and bringing firewood. The women have little time for children, most of whom are malnourished because they don’t get protein-rich foods especially milk and eggs.

To fill these critical gaps in child nutrition, Basic Healthcare Services (BHS) and Aajevika Bureau (AB) started these day-care centres in 2013. The children are given sattu (a porridge made from roasted and ground cereal, lentil and sugar with added oil), khichdi (a preparation made of rice, lentils, salt and added oil) and boiled eggs. Children are also taught about hygiene.

The two non-profit organisations were running three primary care clinics, called AMRIT clinics, at Manpur, Bedawal and Ghated gram panchayats when they came across incidences of malnourishment and decided to start phulwaris.

Abha Mishra, programme manager of Aajevika Bureau, says the clinics conduct monthly health check-up of enrolled children and provide treatment.

“Before the phulwari started in my village, I would leave my children at home and go to fields to work,” says Rina, the mother of two children enrolled at Damore Fala phulwari. “I would be worried about their safety and would keep coming back to check on them. Now I know they are in safe hands and so I can work for more days under MNREGA,” she adds.

Director (Nutrition) of BHS Sanjana Brahmawar Mohan says from October 2015, phulwaris have evolved into hub for child-centric activities in the surrounding villages. “Phulwari workers hold monthly monitoring sessions during which all children under 3 are weighed and their weights plotted on growth charts. Parents are counselled on feeding practices, sanitation and hygiene. Severely underweight children are referred to AMRIT Clinics where a detailed assessment is done.”

Kanta, a phulwari outreach worker from Ghated, says earlier mothers were reluctant to let their children be weighed. “Now they inquire about the child’s weight and compare it with previous month’s weight,” she says.

As of August this year, growth monitoring is being carried out for 303 children under 3. Thirty-six SAM children have been enrolled for treatment across the three clinics.
 
Hindustan Times, 19 September, 2016, please click here to read more

Hindustan Times, 19 September, 2016, http://www.hindustantimes.com/jaipur/phulwaris-in-southern-rajasthan-helping-tribals-fight-malnutrition/story-nPNJiwFO0FPOvoz802Y39K.html


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