Innovative approaches to tackling malnutrition
Dec 27 2023 / Posted in Child nutrition
The malnutrition-related deaths of nearly 600 children barely 100 kilometres from Mumbai in 2016 underlines the critical need for various stakeholders to come together to find ways to bring about behaviour change, and ensure that benefits charted out under various government schemes actually get to those who most need them.
The fact is that children do not die of malnutrition but of causes due to malnutrition. Stunting is a better indicator of malnutrition and according to studies 51% of children and adults among tribal populations in Maharashtra are undernourished and stunted. This is a significant figure and one that has not shown sufficient improvement in the last few years.
Across India, the occurrence of wasting among children is serious. Even within the limits of the financial capital Mumbai, NFHS-IV shows that one-fifth of children under the age of five years suffer from wasting. This is very serious indeed given the associated risks of disease, even death, among children who are very underweight.
Since 2011, a program introduced and managed by SNEHA and CRY has shown the way forward when it comes to tackling urban malnutrition, especially wasting. Over a period of two years, the percentage of wasting in children reduced sharply from 18% to 12% in the slums of Mankhurd, Govandi and Kurla situated in the suburbs of Mumbai. SNEHA’s intervention in child health and nutrition in Dharavi showed equally encouraging signs - a fall of wasting from 18% to 13%.
The percentage of children who received full immunization rose from 66% to 73% in the three areas mentioned earlier. There were also other positive changes, like rise in hospital deliveries (12 up to 15%), adoption of family planning methods (34% up to 59%) and a dramatic drop in pregnancies among women below the age of 20 years. (17% up to 4%).
The changes took place because of a sustained merging across different sectors at the community level to enhance child under-nutrition. This was backed up with enabling behaviour change through home visits, one on one counseling, awareness campaigns, and community meetings. This led to greater adoption of FP methods, immunization and better nutrition practices.
Urban malnutrition is a challenge not just peculiar to world cities like Mumbai. Tackling it requires innovative and creative approaches that take the community’s needs and pressures into account. The program by SNEHA and CRY offer a window into an approach that could show results in many parts of India to reduce malnutrition rates.
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