Second round of malnutrition fight to cover 17,000 kids in Rajasthan - Hindustan Times
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Second round of malnutrition fight to cover 17,000 kids in Rajasthan

Hindustan Times | By, Jaipur
Sep 22, 2017 08:17 PM IST

The Rajasthan health department started preparations to launch the second phase of community-based management of acute malnutrition (CMAM) in January, officials said.

The Rajasthan health department started preparations to launch the second phase of community-based management of acute malnutrition (CMAM) in January, officials said.

The children will be fed nutritional supplement at their houses for 56 days, and their health improvement will be monitored for four months.(HT File Photo)
The children will be fed nutritional supplement at their houses for 56 days, and their health improvement will be monitored for four months.(HT File Photo)

About 17,000 malnourished children, aged 6 to 59 months, will be treated under the programme.

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During the first phase of the programme, conducted between December 2015 and June last year, 9640 severe acute malnourished (SAM) children were treated, of whom 9117 recovered.

State health secretary and National Health Mission chief Naveen Jain said discussions were recently held with development partners on the training plan. The partners include Unicef, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) and Action against Hunger-ACF International.

He said the second phase would cover 50 blocks in 20 districts, including the 13 included in the first round. The first phase covered 41 blocks.

Master trainers at the divisional level, in-charges of selected health centres, Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs), anganwari workers, in-charges of malnutrition treatment centres and members of panchayati raj institutions will be trained, Jain said.

Officials have been told to print training modules, prepare action plan for community mobilisation, procure equipment and gadgets, and select poshan (nutrition) centres.

Jain said, “Training will start from October for three months, and CMAM phase two will start from January 2018. An estimated 16,929 SAM children will be treated under this programme.”

The treatment cost per children is estimated at Rs 4000-5000 – the state government bears 30% and development partners 70%. The government share is spent on incentivising ASHAs, auxiliary nursing midwives (ANMs) and parents to bring children for check-up.

The children will be fed nutritional supplement at their houses for 56 days, and their health improvement will be monitored for four months, Jain said.

“Treatment at home is twice effective than in hospital, and CMAM has proved this,” said MK Bhan, chairperson of inter-ministerial Task Force on Severe Acute Malnutrition, during his visit to Jaipur last year

He said CMAM project was implemented on the principle of DOTS (directly observed treatment, short-course), which contributed to the success of tuberculosis control strategy recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The first phase of CMAM was conducted in Banswara, Dungarpur, Jaisalmer, Karauli, Rajsamand, Dholpur, Udaipur, Barmer, Bundi, Jalore, Pratapgarh, Sirohi and Baran districts. The seven new districts to be covered in the second phase are Ajmer, Bhilwara, Bikaner, Churu, Chittorgarh, Jhalawar and Jodhpur.

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    P Srinivasan is Principal Correspondent and working with Hindustan Times since 2001. He writes on health, agriculture and development.

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