Programme to address all malnutrition causes

The health department will launch a programme which will focus on all reasons of malnutrition and treat it among children aged between six and 59 months.

Naveen Jain, mission director of National Health Mission (NHM), said that after the success of community-based management of acute malnutrition (CMAM), now they plan to tackle other reasons of malnutrition with the help of integrated management of acute malnutrition (IMAM).

In IMAM, frontline workers —including auxiliary nursing midwife (ANM), anganwari workers (AWC) and accredited social health activist (ASHA) — will not only identify children with malnutrition but also stress on antenatal care, complete immunisation of children, institutional deliveries, family planning, anaemia, exclusive breastfeeding, infant and young child feeding practices and home-based neonatal care, said Jain.

“In IMAM, we plan to screen 4 lakh children in 50 blocks of 20 districts. The programme is expected to be launched in May-June this year and will continue for six months,” he added. The 20 districts include Ajmer, Banswara, Baran, Barmer, Bikaner, Bhilwara, Bundi, Chittorgarh, Churu, Dholpur, Dungarpur, Jalore, Jaisalmer, Jhalawar, Jodhpur, Karauli, Pratapgarh, Rajsamand, Sirohi and Udaipur.

Jain said that a three-day master training of state-level supervisors was held in Jaipur between February 20 and 22. IMAM will be launched in the state in association with development partners, including Unicef, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), Action against Hunger-ACF International and Tata Trust.

According to the National Family Health Survey-4 (2015-16) shows that in Rajasthan 39.1 % children under five years are stunted (height-for-age); 23 % children under five are wasted (weight-for-height); 8.6 % children under five are severely wasted (weight-for-height); 36.7 % are underweight (weight-for-age); 60.3 % children in the age group of six to 59 months are anaemic; 46.8% non-pregnant women in the age group of 15-49 years are anaemic; 46.6% pregnant women in the age group of 15-49 years are anaemic and 46.8 % women in the age group of 15-49 years are anaemic.

The first phase of CMAM was launched in 41 blocks of 13 districts, including 10 high priority districts - Banswara, Dungarpur, Jaisalmer, Karauli, Rajsamand, Dholpur, Udaipur, Barmer, Bundi and Jalore and three tribal districts including Pratapgarh, Sirohi and Baran. The programme was started in December 2015 and ended in June 2016. A total of 2,34,404 children aged 6-59 months were screened and 9,640 severe acute malnourished (SAM) children were identified and enrolled; 9,117children recovered from SAM between 8 and 12 weeks of sustained intervention.