Monday, May 3, 2010

Saving Madhya Pradesh children with nutrition centres

Sanjay Sharma, Bhopal, April 30 (IANS) : Kartar Adivasi, a one-year-old, weighed just 6.342 kg when he was admitted to the nutritional rehabilitation centre (NRC) at Narwar in Madhya Pradesh.  Born to Banwari and Binia of village Kiranpura (Barkhadi), the child was kept at the NRC for 14 days and then under followup care at his house, with the result that his weight increased to 9.3 kg by the time he was 15 months old.

Like the one in Narwar, the nine NRCs of Shivpuri district have helped save the lives of 2,701 acutely malnourished children in 2009. Of them 53.5 percent were girls while the remaining 43.5 percent boys.

‘Of the 10 million below-five-years children in the state, 60 percent are malnourished and 100,000 are severely malnourished despite schemes to improve the services of ‘anganwadis’ (mother and child welfare centres) and nutrition centres. And half of them would have died but for the services provided by the NRCs,’ a health official said. Children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM) face a 10-20 times higher risk of death as compared to those who are not severely malnourished.

The NRCs, started with the technical support of Unicef for treatment of malnourished children, have gone a long way in saving the lives of the severely malnourished children, acknowledge officials and poor families.They are managed by the state health department under National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). While the NRC at Shivpuri opened in 2006 was the first, Madhya Pradesh today has 202 such centres and plans to open 23 more, taking their total number to 225. The success of the NRCs in saving the lives of children has encouraged service providers.

‘However, running these centres is not easy,’ said an NRC staff member adding that they face great problems in keeping mothers in hospital for 14 days as they scramble for other children left behind at home.
Nevertheless, the NRCs are much-needed in the state. Their funding – annual cost of Rs.300,000 for each NRC – is provided by the state government through the NRHM while Unicef provides technical support and training for the centres’ staff. This includes one doctor, one nurse, one cook and two caretakers. Tania Goldner, chief of Unicef office for Madhya Pradesh, says NRCs are facility-based units for the care of children who suffer from SAM.

‘We are happy that the state government has set up NRCs in all districts of Madhya Pradesh. They are being managed under the NRHM while Unicef provides technical assistance,’ Goldner told IANS. ‘However, we need to encourage effective and efficient preventive measures at the community level to ensure that fewer and fewer children get into severe degrees of malnutrition,’ she added.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Madhya Pradesh: Holes in tribal food basket

Rubina Khan Shapoo NDTV, Sunday May 2, 2010, Shivpuri, Madhya Pradesh : The government is all set to pass the Food Bill that aims at giving monthly subsidised foodgrains to families Below the Poverty Line (BPL). However, the picture is not as peachy as it may seem. In a shocking story from the Shivpuri district of Madhya Pradesh nine tribal children have died in just five months due to malnutrition. This incident has occurred even as hundreds of tribal families continue to get their share of food but only on paper.

Kashi, is one of the Sahariya tribals from Todha village in the district who has lost her three-year-old daughter. The reason not hard to find. "This is actually cattle feed. But we eat it too," says Kashi.

The overall death toll between December 2009 and April 2010 of children due to malnutrition related diseases in Shivpuri district to now 23. The Sahariyas are not only one of the most primitive tribes in India but are also among its poorest. Malnutrition deaths are a critical reason of untimely deaths in the community.

As per law, they are entitled to 35 kilos of wheat, five kilos of sugar and five litres of kerosene every month under the Antodaya scheme. In Todha village, however, the ration cards are operated by the sarpanch in collusion with the ration shop owner. The result: Cards are updated flawlessly while half the amount of food is given. Akki, a tribal from the village tells us he is given 25 kilos of wheat. But how much does he write in the card? Thirty-five kilos.

In nearby Pohri, another tribal-dominated district block ration delivered is for over 40,000 residents when the block has only 35,000 people who hold ration cards. An RTI application has proved that more than 5,000 cards are bogus.

However, Raj Kumar Pathak, Collector, Shivpuri district says, "There are no fraudulent ration cards. A probe is on." Malnutrition among children in Madhya Pradesh is 60 per cent, the highest in the country. In its tribal belts like Shivpuri it is even more intense. In the critical battle against hunger, the tribals are becoming the easiest victims.