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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Spotlight on Strategy to Counter Malnutrition

Spotlight on Strategy to Counter Malnutrition

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published Published on Nov 7, 2015   modified Modified on Nov 7, 2015
-The New Indian Express

Yet another damning report on malnutrition among children in urban slums has made headlines. A study conducted by the Indian NGO Child Rights and You on early childhood has revealed that children living in slums suffer from malnutrition, resulting in underweight and stunted growth. Though the numbers vary from one city to another, there’s very little to cheer about. The percentage of underweight children ranged from 33 per cent for Bengaluru to 62.2 per cent for Chennai. Other cities were no better with 41 per cent for Mumbai, 49 per cent for Kolkata and 50 per cent for Delhi. The study, conducted in slums across five major metros, points to low immunisation coverage as well.  If the situation in growing and buzzing cities is so, one would dread to imagine the scenario in other relatively less developed cities and towns.

Once again the spotlight is on the government’s strategy to counter malnutrition of children, and the functioning of Anganwadi centres, the focal points of the government’s intervention relating to children, (besides pregnant women and lactating mothers), comes under scanner. Though the nation boasts of over a million-strong network of Anganwadis set up with the objective of meeting the nutritional and developmental needs of children below six years via supplementary nutrition and immunisation, its achievements, though substantial, leaves a lot more to be desired. That the programme has been somewhat effective has been documented in several studies, but equally glaring is the fact that much more needs to be done.

To counter malnutrition, the government should take steps to ensure 100 per cent enrollment of children in Anganwadis. This can be done by improving the conditions in Anganwadis, especially in the ones located in large sprawling slums in congested cities, and launching an campaign to persuade the parents to send their children to these centres. The Anganwadi workers are already burdened with a number of responsibilities; they have to perform as many as 21 tasks, including conducting surveys, maintaining records, etc. The responsibilities of workers should be rationalised, staff augmented so that they are sufficiently motivated and incentivised to play their part in giving every child a healthy start.

The New Indian Express, 5 November, 2015, http://www.newindianexpress.com/editorials/Spotlight-on-Strategy-to-Counter-Malnutrition/2015/11/05/article3113485.ece


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