-The Asian Age The NGOs have warned against treating poor children across the state as guinea pigs, putting their health at risk. Mumbai: Instead of providing hot cooked, nutritious meals to malnourished kids, the state women and child welfare department  has recently decided to purchase corporate-manufactured ‘ready to use therapeutic food (RUTF)’ packets for severely malnourished children across Maharashtra. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed on August 4, permitting the use...

When it comes to child under-nutrition, the proportion of stunted and underweight children below 5 years has reduced in India during the last ten years. However, a rising trend has been observed in the prevalence of wasting among children below 5 years between the last two rounds of National Family Health Survey (NFHS). The recently released data from NFHS-4 indicates that the proportion of under 5 year children who are...

-The Indian Express In 2015, the BJP government of Chhattisgarh, represented by health minister Ajay Chandrakar, signed an MoU with PHFI to upgrade specialist doctors in Naxal-hit Bastar. SINCE last week, the top public health NGO Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) has been in the crosshairs of the NDA government, barred from accepting foreign funds. But not very long ago, it was the preferred partner of not just the UPA...

-Economic and Political Weekly Vani Sethi (vsethi@UNICEF.org) is with the Child Development and Nutrition section of UNICEF India’s country office. Shivani Dar and Rabi N Parhi are with UNICEF’s Bihar field office. Arti Bhanot is an independent consultant. Saba Mebrahtu was former chief of the Child Development and Nutrition section at UNICEF India’s country office. The prevalence of child stunting in Bihar is as high as 48%. This study of the immediate...

-Livemint.com The Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey, being conducted by UNICEF and the health ministry, is the first of its kind in terms of sample size and parameters Devthala village, in Rajasthan’s Jaipur district, is abuzz with ‘medical’ activity. In one of its dwellings, a six-year-old’s height, weight, arm length, waist size as well as grip strength are being measured by one of half a dozen surveyors. A UNICEF delegation is watching over...