The Centre has proposed to pump in Rs1,000-crore to the multi-sectoral nutrition programme to address maternal and child under-nutrition through innovative methods.
The National Family Health Survey 2005-06 showed that close to 50 per cent children in India under age five years (48 per cent) were chronically malnourished.
“All severely underweight children identified under the Integrated Child Development Services will be further screened for wasting, stunting, loss of appetite and other complications following which they will be treated and rehabilitated,” said an official from the Woman and Child Ministry.
“The Ministry is planning to extend the food supplementation programmes to a second meal per day for highly vulnerable groups. Besides this, the Ministry also wants to create kitchen gardens near or within anganwadi centres, schools and health facilities which could readily supply fresh nutritious food,” said an official from the WCD Ministry.
The WCD Ministry has chalked out a programme to popularise low-cost nutritious food prepared using locally available raw materials to help undernourished children.
The proposed programme which has an outlay of Rs1,057.07-crore will also introduce basic health and nutrition education in school curricula and relevant training in all related sectoral programmes.
Health Ministry officials said that the objective is to address issues which are not supported in sectoral plans through a “gap-fill” approach.