Healthy gains for Chandigarh as number of malnourished kids down by 75% in one year

The number of severely malnourished children in Chandigarh came down from 103 in January 2023 to 23 January 2024

The number of severely malnourished children came down from 103 in January 2023 to 23 January 2024, data from the annual report from the UT health department showed.

Data from the annual report from the Chandigarh health department was released. (HT File)

The health department attributed the improvement to the successful implementation of the “Kuposhan se Suposhan ki aur” campaign.

The number of moderately malnourished children also decreased from 1,026 to 127 during the same period. According to a health department report, the positive changes were made possible by interventions such as adding millets to supplementary nutrition and providing additional food items like “poshak barfi” (made from millets), milk, bananas and eggs to the diet.

The Poshan Tracker shows 46,782 eligible beneficiaries, including 3,139 pregnant women, 3,290 lactating mothers, 3,300 children under the age of six months, 16,381 between the age of six months to three years and 20,672 between three-six years.

Focus on right nutrition

The absence of the right nutrients in the meals result in issues like stunted growth and children being underweight. According to data from the Poshan Tracker website as of February 2024, 24% of children are experiencing stunting, which indicates low height-for-age due to poor nutrition. Besides, 7% of children in the region are underweight. These statistics are based on data collected from a total of 40,328 children under the age of six during the growth monitoring.

Chandigarh has been actively tackling the issue and it reflects in the figures. Comparing the latest data to that from April 2023, when the percentage of severely/moderately stunted children was 32% and underweight was 14%.

There’s been a greater emphasis on using millets in cooked meals and take-home rations instead of providing raw rations at anganwadi centres.

UT health services director Dr Suman Singh was approached for comment but declined, citing adherence to code of conduct guidelines.

Fares poorly in tricity

According to reports from the Poshan Abhiyaan, the central government had between 2021 to January 2024 allocated ₹57 crore to Chandigarh.

In the tricity region, Chandigarh has the highest prevalence of stunted children. In comparison, 11% of children experience stunting and 4% are underweight in Mohali. Similarly, in Panchkula, 21% of children are stunted and 6% are underweight.