The Women Self Help Groups (SHGs) and ‘Suposhan Mitra’ are playing crucial role in fight against malnutrition in Chhattisgarh, stated State Woman and Child Development Minister Ramshila Sahu while reviewing the third phase of ‘Navjatan Scheme’ here on Thursday.
Addressing the orientation session of SHGs and Suposhan Mitra, the Minister said that the movement against malnutrition in Chhattisgarh is getting success due to schemes such as ‘Navjatan Yojna’ and ‘Mukhyamantri Bal Sandarbh Yojna’ implemented in Chhattisgarh.
“We now have to move towards ‘Malnutrition Free State’. For saving children from malnutrition, we have to provide them diet supplements and also keep watch on their health. Pregnant women should take special care of their diets so that when any baby is born they may be healthy,” she said.
Sahu said: “If the baby is healthy at time of birth then chances of malnutrition are reduced. To ensure that children eat properly the food provided to them should be delicious and healthy. Green vegetables available locally are also good for the health of children,” she added.
Representatives of SHGs and Suposhan Mitra also shared their experiences during the program. It may be recalled that early this month, the State Government announced that to improve the nutritional status of mothers and children, a ‘Suposhan Chaupal’ will be organised at the Anganwadi centers of 17 ‘high burden districts’ (with maximum malnourished children) of the State on every third Thursday of the month.
A circular had been issued by the Women and Child Development department in this regard to the Collectors and District Programme Officers of the concerned districts. Officials had stated that the that activities like ‘Godbharai’, ‘Annaprashan’, ‘Balbhoj’, etc would be undertaken in the ‘Suposhan Chaupal’.
The high burden districts identified by the Department include Balod, Bemetara, Baloda-Bazar, Bastar, Gariaband, Durg, Kabirdham, Mahasamund, Korba, Jashpur, Narayanpur, Dantewada, Bijapur, Sukma, Kanker and Raipur. According to the circular, the Central Government has directed to organise community based activities in Anganwadi centers to improve the nutrition of mothers and children under the ICDS Systems Strengthening and Nutrition Improvement Project (ISSNIP) started by the Central government with help of World Bank. By organising such programmes, the participation of community will increase under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) and help in achieving the millennium development goal .
The officials stated that for Godbharai programme at Anganwadi Centre, the registered pregnant women, pregnant women with seven months pregnancy and one or two members of their family will be invited.
Similarly for Annaprashan, the children completing six months of age, children up to age of nine months registered with the Anganwadi centre, their parents and family members will be invited for participation in the programme.
Besides this, the moderate and severely malnourished children, their parents, children targeted in ‘Sneh Shivir’ and ‘Nava Jatan’ scheme and medical officers will participate in the Suposhan Chaupal.
The participants will be welcomed and motivational song will be sung by the local heroes. The experiences mother in-law, ideal mothers, parents who have successfully cared their children from malnourished to nourished status etc would be made the chief guest of the programme, the officials said.
The gathering will be made aware of the importance of nutrition through these activities and discussions will also be held on the issues like care during pregnancy, nutritious food, malnutrition management quiz, etc. Information related to services and facilities provided under different Government schemes like Sneh Shivir, Nava Jatan, Chief Minister Bal Sandarbh Yojna, Nutrition Rehabilitation Center etc will also be given to the participants during the Chaupal.
Notably, about 38 per cent of the 60,000 malnourished children targetted during the first and second phase of State Government’s ‘Nav Jatan Yojana’ during 2012-14 have been cured within an action plan period of barely six months, officials informed.
Moreover, since year 2009, malnutrition eradication programme is also underway in the State, under which ‘Mukhyamantri Bal Sandarbh Yojana’ is being implemented in the State to provide healthcare through home-based management and additional health services to children with critical malnutrition condition, they stated. Data collected during Vazan Tyohar ( Weighing Festival) in June last year that the level of malnutrition in the State had declined to nearly 33 per cent. As per the National Family Health Survey, the malnutrition level in the State in year 2005-06 was 52 per cent.
It may be recalled that on August 25 last year, the Chhattisgarh government had announced that it has taken upon itself the challenging task of eradicating malnutrition among children below 3 years of age across the State.
The State Government took it as a challenge, and has chalked out an elaborate plan to eradicate malnutrition with the help of Anganwadi as well Phulwari centres, officials informed. Officials informed that it is the first scheme of its kind in the nation that Phulwari centres have been opened with the help of Gram Panchayats and Mitanins of Health Department in Chhattisgarh. In these centres, children are served nutritious meals three times a day. No government employee or worker has been appointed in these centres.
Instead, mothers of the children enrolled in Phulwari themselves attend the children and serve meal to them turn by turn. Provision has been made to enroll minimum 5 children and maximum 20 children in every Phulwari Centre.
As per the announcement of Chief Minister Raman Singh, ‘Phulwari Centres’ have already been started in 85 tribal populated development blocks of Chhattisgarh.
The scheme has been formulated particularly to save children below 3 years of age from malnutrition and to improve their health.
Panchayat and Rural Development Department officials had informed that the most important feature of this scheme is public participation, especially participation of mothers of such children.
Chief Minister Raman Singh had announced the scheme of opening Pulwari centres in 85 tribal populated blocks of the State, on the occasion of Republic Day last year. Within one-and-a-half years of his announcement, Panchayat and Rural Development Department has started opening Phulwari Centres in the development blocks concerned in a schematic manner.
Significantly, in November last year, the European Union also endorsed the claims of the Chhattisgarh government regarding steep decline in the infant and maternal mortality rate in the State.
A representative of the European Union said the infant mortality rate and maternal mortality rate had come down drastically in the State due the efforts made in the health and family welfare sectors in the 15th meeting of the Programme Steering Committee chaired by Chief Secretary Vivek Dhand, officials stated.