Tackling malnutrition: Valsad shows the way

VAPI: The state government's record in tackling malnutrition among children may have come under attack from the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), but the tribal district of Valsad has emerged as a ray of hope.
Official figures of Centre-sponsored Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) implementation in the district shows a marked improvement in the malnourishment figures in the last three years.In 2010, 57 per cent children up to six years of age in the district were malnourished. This number has almost halved to 23.47 per cent, as per the latest data.
Authorities attribute the improvement to a pilot project HUM (Holistic Under nutrition Management) which was started only in Valsad three years ago with the help of voluntary organizations. The volunteers fanned out extensively across the district anganwadis to reach out to the families and identify malnourished children.
The numbers are particularly encouraging in Kaprada and Dharampur, the two talukas considered among the most backward with high prevalence of malnutrition. In Kaprada, the number of malnourished children has come down from 66 per cent three years ago, to 35 per cent. Dharampur has improved from 65 per cent to 35 per cent in the same period.
Dr Sandip Naik, project in-charge of ICDS, Valsad said improving nourishment standards is not a difficult task if there is a proper system of monitoring anganwadis, regular house-to-house visits of malnourished children, pregnant and lactating women and those households having adolescent girls. District officials are mandated to visit the anganwadis regularly as prescribed in their job manual. If the monitoring system is implemented professionally, the complaints of ghost presences of district officials in anganwadis can be checked to a great extent, he said. Naik has written to the state government calling for effective implementation of a monitoring system of anganwadis, something on the lines of 108 emergency services. Meanwhile, chief minister Narendra Modi is expected to take a stock of the government's Balam Sukham scheme aimed at tackling malnutrition at a meeting in Mahatma Mandir today.