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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Child malnutrition on rise but funding falters -Komal Ganotra

Child malnutrition on rise but funding falters -Komal Ganotra

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published Published on Feb 1, 2017   modified Modified on Feb 1, 2017
-Down to Earth

Almost 40 per cent of India's population is minor but the budget allocated to them is a meagre four per cent of the Union budget

It was a mid-winter morning when we first met her at the anganwadi centre of Mai, a small village by the bank of the River Ganga in Bihar’s Munger district. The breakfast session at the anganwadi centre was just over, though some of the children were still busy with the last remains of sattu ki laddu in their dirty hands. Savita Devi, the sahayika (helper) at the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) centre, was already in the midst of preparing lunch for those kids. However, the sevika of the anganwadi was nowhere to be seen. When asked about her absence, Savita replied that the sevika had stopped attending her job as her salary was pending for four months. And it was evident from the way Savita answered that, she, too, would follow suit any day.

Later that day, we visited the next village called Damodarpur Mohuli. It presented a bleaker picture. The only anganwadi in the village has been non-functional for the past six months as the anganwadi worker has not received her salary for this time period. She has stopped opening the centre due to lack of food and medicine.

Clearly, something was going seriously wrong with one of the largest public service schemes in India, catering to the need of children below six years. But where did the shoe pinch?

Turning Intent into Action

It’s a proven clinical fact that a sound foundation in the childhood days is extremely crucial for the overall development of a human being. In fact, 90 per cent development of the brain occurs within first five to six years of an individual’s life. Thus, to ensure a right start to life, early childhood care and learning is exceedingly important. This was the idea the ICDS has emerged from. This scheme, implemented from 1974 onwards, has the potential to have the most comprehensive coverage. Over the years, the coverage and services of this scheme have seen a multi-fold increase.

A vision of a restructured ICDS involving a core package of services such as Early Childhood Care Education and Development (ECCED), Care and Nutrition counseling – Maternal and Child Health Services, Community Mobilisation, awareness and advocacy is very much a part of the latest policy. It mentions the transition of Anganwadis to Anganwadi-cum-crèches which provide for universalisation of care while ensuring preschool education. The aim is to turn them into holistic centres of Early Childhood Care and Development from mere ‘khichdi centres’.

Scary numbers

A quick look at the data set revealed by the fourth National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) reveals that nine out of the 11 states surveyed have not been able to reduce the rate of Infant Mortality even by two points annually. And, currently in India, 40 out of 1000 infants don’t get to celebrate their first birthday.

What is even scarier is the fact that among the 472 million children that the country hosts, a whopping 97 million are anaemic and undernourished. For Indian children five years or younger, 38.7 per cent are stunted (below normal height for the age), 19.8 per cent are wasted (underweight and short) and 42.4 per cent are underweight. India has one-third of the world population of underage mothers. According to the latest census data, 8.9 million out of the 12.15 million married children in India are girls. More than 450,000 married girls under 14 years of age have already borne children.

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Down to Earth, 31 January, 2017, http://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/child-malnutrition-on-rise-but-funding-falters-56913


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