Sandeep Ashar, Mar 19, 2011
MUMBAI: Malnourishment among children continues to be a never-ending horror tale for Mumbai. The country's financial capital and the state's most industrialized city continues to hold the dubious distinction of being the city with the highest incidence of acute malnourishment cases in the state.
During a recent survey in the city, 12,343 children in the 0-6 age group were found to be severely undernourished. Over 2.74 lakh children in the same age group were surveyed across the city. The incidence rate of 4.49% in Mumbai was found to be higher than anywhere else in the state.
Similar survey exercise was also carried out in four other districts namely Ratnagiri, Raigad, Sindhudurg and Thane.
While the survey was carried out by the government for a month in November last year, the results were shared in response to a query on the issue on Friday by a section of members of the legislative council.
The survey is undertaken regularly under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS). Thane, which is also highly urbanized, was the second worst with an incidence rate of 3.37 (14,094 of 4.18 lakh children), while Raigad, which had an incidence rate of 1.42 (1,998 out of 1.4 lakh children) had the lowest incidence rate.
Varsha Gaikwad, minister for women and child welfare, while answering to a related query, admitted that the number of severely undernourished children had gone up in the past year. She, however, argued that this was owing to change in the norms defined by the WHO for measuring the health of a child.
In her reply, Gaikwad has outlined a 12-point strategy that is being undertaken by her department to tackle the menace. This includes cent per cent coverage of children in the 0-6 age group and distribution take home ratio for pregnant mothers and children in the 6 months to 3 years age group. The department also plans to campaign aggressively to spread awareness about malnourishment and means to prevent it, apart from undertaking periodic drives to immunize children.
The state government has asked experts from Tata Institute of Social Sciences and YASHADA to draft a special plan to tackle malnourishment in Mumbai.
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-03-19/mumbai/29145552_1_lakh-children-city-tops-state-undernourished-children
MUMBAI: Malnourishment among children continues to be a never-ending horror tale for Mumbai. The country's financial capital and the state's most industrialized city continues to hold the dubious distinction of being the city with the highest incidence of acute malnourishment cases in the state.
During a recent survey in the city, 12,343 children in the 0-6 age group were found to be severely undernourished. Over 2.74 lakh children in the same age group were surveyed across the city. The incidence rate of 4.49% in Mumbai was found to be higher than anywhere else in the state.
Similar survey exercise was also carried out in four other districts namely Ratnagiri, Raigad, Sindhudurg and Thane.
While the survey was carried out by the government for a month in November last year, the results were shared in response to a query on the issue on Friday by a section of members of the legislative council.
The survey is undertaken regularly under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS). Thane, which is also highly urbanized, was the second worst with an incidence rate of 3.37 (14,094 of 4.18 lakh children), while Raigad, which had an incidence rate of 1.42 (1,998 out of 1.4 lakh children) had the lowest incidence rate.
Varsha Gaikwad, minister for women and child welfare, while answering to a related query, admitted that the number of severely undernourished children had gone up in the past year. She, however, argued that this was owing to change in the norms defined by the WHO for measuring the health of a child.
In her reply, Gaikwad has outlined a 12-point strategy that is being undertaken by her department to tackle the menace. This includes cent per cent coverage of children in the 0-6 age group and distribution take home ratio for pregnant mothers and children in the 6 months to 3 years age group. The department also plans to campaign aggressively to spread awareness about malnourishment and means to prevent it, apart from undertaking periodic drives to immunize children.
The state government has asked experts from Tata Institute of Social Sciences and YASHADA to draft a special plan to tackle malnourishment in Mumbai.
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-03-19/mumbai/29145552_1_lakh-children-city-tops-state-undernourished-children
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