MARCH 16-31, 2015 BUREAUCRACY TODAY
51www.bureaucracytoday.com
Malnutrition is a dreaded illness which affects almost half of
all infants in India. The World Bank has estimated that India is
one of the highest ranking countries whose children are
suffering from malnutrition. However, surprisingly India is yet
to formulate a national guideline for malnutrition as the
consecutive Governments at the Centre have not recognized it as a
grave illness till now. Bureaucracy Today examines the status of
malnourishment in India and the action required to prevent it.
By Meghna Chukkath
He opines that the problem of malnutrition should be addressed
through the Health Department or through the convergence model
between the Health and various other departments like that of Child
and Woman Welfare and Development. Acute malnutrition is a medical
disorder and it should be treated within medical parameters, he
says.
GOVT INITIATIVEThough the Government has launched several
programmes to con-verge the growing rate of undernour-ished
children, these efforts are not enough, feels the ICCW Committee
Chairperson.
Government schemes such as the Midday Meal, the Integrated Child
Development Scheme, the National Childrens Fund, and the National
Plan of Action for Children and the United Nations Childrens Fund
are a few initiatives taken to combat this illness. The region of
UP, Bihar, Rajasthan, especially northern In-dia, has 60 per cent
of the children affected by SAM. The Government with its various
initiatives is doing its bit but that is not enough. We are looking
at Acute Malnutrition, says Dr Bhandari.
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of Acute Malnutrition) consisting mobilization of community, an
out-patient therapeutic programme, a supplementary food programme
and a patient-care programme which fo-cuses on medical
facilities.
Prevention should be a prior-ity but treatment of SAM cannot be
neglected. Therapeutic food will be more effective in curing the
patient. There are several States in India which have demonstrated
that locally made therapeutic food if composed correctly as per the
standard guide-lines can help, Dr Bhandari says.
Almost half of all Indian chil-dren between the one and 24
months of age are undernour-ished. According to a UNICEF report,
malnutrition is more common in In-dia than in Sub-Saharan Africa.
One in every three malnourished children in the world lives in
India and about 46 per cent of all children below the age of three
are too small for their age; 47 per cent are underweight and at
least 16 per cent are wasted. Many of these children are suffering
from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM).
India is expecting a productive workforce along with its growing
population in the next few decades. With undernourishment
accounting for the highest mortality rate among children, adversity
in the economy is foreseen. The prevalence of malnutri-tion varies
across States, with Madhya Pradesh recording the highest rate (55
per cent) and Kerala among the lowest (27 per cent).
NO NATIONAL GUIDELINESIn India, there are no national
guide-lines released for malnutrition be-cause until now the
Government has not recognized it as a grave illness. In most of the
SAM cases, affected chil-dren are hardly tracked. There is a dire
need for a community-based pro-gramme where all the children should
be weighed and screened at the local level. Dr Raj Bhandari,
Chairperson of the Health and Nutrition Sub-Committee of the Indian
Council of Child Welfare (ICCW) and a renowned pediatrician, says,
Though the WHO and the NHFS have guidelines as to what therapeutic
food should be composed of, the Integrated Child Development
Schemes food alone is not enough as it is not fortifi ed with
micro-nutrients. He also feels that there is a requirement for a
CMAM strategy (Community Management
NO NATIONAL GUIDELINES FOR MALNOURISHMENT
HEALTH WATCHBT MALNOURISHMENT
Dr RAJ BHANDARI, Chairperson, Health and Nutrition Sub-Committee
of ICCW
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