E-Paper
Govt campaign helped curtail malnourishment in children by 32% in Chhattisgarh
The number of malnourished children in Chhattisgarh went down to 1,40,556 in May 2021 from 4,33,541 identified in January 2019.
The statewide Mukhyamantri Suposhan Abhiyan campaign launched by the Chhattisgarh government on October 2, 2019, on the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, helped in bringing down the number of malnourished children in the state by 32%.
In January 2019, as many as 4,33,541 children in the state were identified to be malnourished. However, as of May 2021, nearly one-third or 32% of these children (1,40,556) were declared free of malnutrition.
Chief minister Bhupesh Baghel initiated the campaign to eradicate malnutrition and anaemia in the state considering the rate of malnutrition and anaemia among women and children shown in the data of National Family Health Survey-4.
As per the survey, 37.7% children below five years of age in the state were suffering from malnutrition and 47% women in the age group of 15 to 49 years were suffering from anaemia. It was observed that the maximum of the malnourished children was from tribal and remote forest areas.
Furthermore, a pilot project called ‘Suposhan Abhiyan’ was started in some gram panchayats of the forest region, including Maoist-affected Bastar, which was carried forward through innovative programmes such as the distribution of hot nutritious food through panchayats in Dantewada district and 'Laika Jatan Thaur' in Dhamtari district. The government statement said that arrangements were made to provide hot-cooked food under Suposhan Abhiyan by ensuring better utilisation of the District Mineral Trust fund.
Following the success of the scheme, Baghel expanded it throughout the state. Under this campaign, in addition to the supplementary nutritional food given to the identified children at the Anganwadi centre, arrangements have been made to distribute free nutritious food at local-level to the malnourished women and children.
According to the government, nutritious food made from eggs, laddoos, gram, jaggery, sprouted grains, and milk, among others, along with hot-cooked food are also being provided to the beneficiaries. Awareness has also been created about locally available vegetables and nutritious items, as a result of which the nutrition-level of children and women has started improving.
In collaboration with the health department, iron folic acid and anthelmintic tablets are also being provided to the anaemia-affected citizens. To achieve the goal of 'Malnutrition-free Chhattisgarh' in the next three years, the department of women and child development, health department and other departments’ are making coordinated efforts to bring about results, the statement said.
Despite the closure of all Anganwadi and mini Anganwadi centres due to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19)-inducted pandemic, ASHA workers and assistants of 51,455 such centres in the state distributed ready-to-eat nutritious food to 28.78,000 beneficiaries at their doorstep.
Under the ‘Supplementary Nutrition Food Programme’, ready-to-eat food items are being distributed to the children of age group six months to six years, pregnant, lactating women and adolescent girls.
Anganwadi centres have now been reopened with the consent of the public representatives and parents in the Covid-19-free places in the state. This decision to reopen Anganwadis was taken to maintain the victory over malnutrition and to prevent the impact of Covid-19 on the health of children, the government’s statement further said.
Under the Mukhyamantri Suposhan Abhiyan, in Balod district, 12,481 children were identified malnourished as of January 2019, out of which 1,402 children have been cured. Similarly, 6,032 children out of 30,917 in Balodabazar have been cured of the condition. In Balrampur-Ramanujganj district, 14,106 children out of 27,352 have been cured while in Bastar, 3,633 children out of 15,753 have been free of malnourishment.
The government statement further stated that similar improvements in the number of children suffering from malnourishment have been reported from other districts of the state as well.
