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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | The beginning of real loss -Archana Mishra

The beginning of real loss -Archana Mishra

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published Published on Nov 23, 2017   modified Modified on Nov 23, 2017
-Govenance Now

There is need for timely intervention to prevent malnutrition in tribal children

She is tall, skinny and dark-complexioned. She sports a tattoo of lines and dots on her forehead, as if displaying a hieroglyphic text. Her neck is laden with beaded jewellery and a thick, rusted iron chain while the ears are pierced at two spots. The white sari draped till her knees contrasts with green and red glass bangles. Premwati, a Baiga woman, is always dressed like this.

The 25-year-old holds her three-year-old daughter in hand. Around the kid’s neck and wrist is tied a multilayer chain of metal. This is to prevent sickness, says Premwati, though the child is unwell most of the time. She does not know her daughter suffers from severe malnutrition; she thinks her daughter is sick because she eats less and excretes more. Though the local accredited social health worker (ASHA) has advised her to take the child to a nutrition rehabilitation centre (NRC) of Bichhiya block in Mandla district of Madhya Pradesh, she has not.

Premwati is from Bhanpur Kheda village – almost five km away from the NRC, a facility in the community hospital to take care of the children less than five years of age suffering with severe acute malnutrition (SAM). It admits both the mother and the child for 14 to 21 days.

“I have been admitted twice in the NRC with my other two kids who died a few days after the treatment. I have lost my two kids; I don’t want to lose my daughter,” says Premwati, who now has more faith in her traditional cures.

Her neighbour, Fagani, also a Baiga, has a severely malnourished three-year old son named Amit. She too is reluctant to take him to the NRC. She says if she gets admitted in a hospital then she would not be able to take care of her other kids. “Who will feed them or cook food?” asks Fagani, whose husband works as a labourer in Raipur.

In Bhanpur Kheda village almost every child is undernourished. Majority of the village population is the Baiga tribe. In July and August, the ASHA worker referred seven kids afflicted with SAM to the NRC. But only four families went ahead to get treatment in the centre. The plausible reasons for the reluctance of the remaining three families are strong traditional beliefs, past experiences and inadequate support from the family.

To gauge the extent of malnourishment in this block, I studied the health record maintained at the anganwadi by the auxiliary nurse midwife (ANM). The register showed that several kids around five years of age had their weight in the range of kg, which is almost six kg less than the standard. A four-year-old weighs 10 kg, almost five to six kg less than the standard. Those in the age bracket of two to three years weigh merely 8-9 kg. Many among them have become susceptible to SAM and have been asked to go to NRC. The situation is no different in the other two Baiga villages that I visited, Kharpariya and Gadiya.

It’s not only the Baiga tribals who face the SAM scare; the other tribe here – Gonds – also have children with symptoms of stunting and wasting. However, the Gond people are willing to take the sick child for treatment.  

Please click here to read more.

Governance Now, 21 November, 2017, http://www.governancenow.com/news/regular-story/the-beginning-of-real-loss-baiga-tribals


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