Fighting Malnutrition at The Grassroots

Despite substantial improvement in health and well-being since the country's independence in 1947, malnutrition remains a silent emergency in India, where more than half of all children under the age of four are malnourished, 30% of newborns are significantly underweight, and 60% of women are anemic.

According to reports, malnutrition costs India at least $10 billion annually in terms of lost productivity, illness, and death and is seriously retarding improvements in human development and further reduction of childhood mortality.

Malnutrition rates in some parts of the country are highest among children and women, due primarily to inadequate food intake, illness, and such harmful child care practices as delayed complementary feeding. Underlying these are household food insecurity, inadequate preventative and curative health services, and insufficient knowledge of proper care.

While India has taken the problem of malnutrition seriously and has developed appropriate policies and mounted large-scale programs to address it, the efforts are having a relatively limited impact on nutrition among the poor.

So NGOs and other social organizations are stepping in to bring a change. BharatCares is also at the forefront of fighting malnutrition at Hajipur Village in Ahmedabad.

Reasons for malnutrition in India

• Illness and disease resulting from maternal and child undernutrition,
• Changing diets and patterns of physical activity
• Obesity and overweight
• Lack of breastfeeding practices
• Deficiencies of vitamins and minerals such as vitamin A, zinc, iron and calcium.

Challenges & Implications of Malnutrition

Undernutrition reduces a nation’s economic advancement by at least eight per cent because of direct productivity losses, losses via poorer cognition and losses via reduced schooling. Lack of medical facilities and trained medical personnel Inadequate transport facilities also caused a large number of infant deaths. A lack of standard protocols and fewer trained doctors lead to most infant deaths.

Lack of iron and folic acid supplies and the Injection of Iron Sucrose IV to control and treat severe anemia among pregnant mothers are not in regular supply in rural areas.

To address this, the Government of India launched several schemes like the National Food Security Bill that hoped to play a major role in eradicating malnutrition and overcoming calorie deprivation. The Mid-day Meal Scheme and National Rural Health Mission were also created to improve the availability of and access to quality health care for people.

BharatCares intervention

To accelerate change and tackle malnutrition BharatCares along with Arvind Foundation has launched an initiative called ‘Malnutrition Free Village Program’. The pilot was conducted in Hajipur village of Gandhinagar district in Ahmedabad and over 30 children benefited from the same.

The 21-day intervention begins with a health scan of all the children in the village. The ones found to be undernourished are referred to the center for a diet program. At this center, a dedicated doctor and nurse will check parameters such as height, weight, secondary health complications, and more.

Nutritious food offered to the children

The children found to be severely undernourished are enrolled on a program with a personalized diet chart. First, they are provided energy-dense nutritious food that improves their appetite and over time they are shifted to a weight-gain diet. Children diagnosed with secondary health complications like pneumonia are referred to community hospitals for immediate treatment.

An on-ground representative says the project is very successful because parents and their children can avail treatment and healthy food without admitting their child. “In urban hospitals, it is mandatory for children to be admitted for 21 days. But here, they can visit the center, take the treatment and go back home.”

On seeing the success of the pilot program, the team has expanded their reach to a few other villages. The screening program will begin soon and children will start receiving treatment.

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Roshini Muthukumar

Roshini Muthukumar, a native of Chennai, started her career as a content writer but made a switch to journalism to pursue her passion. She has experience writing about human interest stories, innovative technology, entrepreneurs, research blogs, and more. Previously, Roshini has done internships with The Hindu, Metroplus and worked as a correspondent with The Better India.