A vital cog in Bongaigaon’s response in malnutrition

News: Given the seriousness and complexity of the issue of malnutrition in India, innovative approaches are needed.

Hippocrates famously stated that Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food. This highlights the importance of nutrition in the growth of a child.

A unique Project Sampoorna was conceived in the Bongaigaon district of Assam. This is in line with the UN SDG goals and Kuposhan Mukta Bharat initiative of India. The project has resulted in the reduction of malnutrition in children using near zero economic investment.

Initiatives like these are needed to tackle the vicious cycle of malnutrition.

How malnutrition impacts children?

The highest risk is posed by anaemia. An anaemic child goes into an unhealthy adolescent, an anaemic pregnant young woman. The woman would give birth to an asphyxiated low-birth-weight baby. This baby will then face developmental delays and grow into a malnourished child.

How Project Sampoorna helped Bongaigaon district?

The project yielded encouraging results – maternal deaths for six months have fallen from 16 (Apr to Sep 2020) to three (Apr to Sep 2021) and infant deaths from 130 to 63.

Project Sampoorna had prevented at least 1,200 children from becoming malnourished over the last year

Why was Project Sampoorna launched ?

The National Family Health Survey (NHFS)-5) documented that the number of children under five who are stunted, wasted, underweight and the number of anaemic women and children in the district are higher than the national average. And anaemia is a major determinant of maternal and child health.

Low number of beds: District Nutritional Rehabilitation Centres, or NRCs, usually have up to 20 beds. This means that they are not equipped to deal with high number of severely acutely malnourished children.

Loss of wages: Parents of the children have to abandon their farmlands and forego their wages for 10 days.

Back home, siblings of the severely and acutely malnourished (SAM) child are not taken care of and may become malnourished. The treated child could also slip back to a SAM state after being discharged and if not cared for.

Considering the challenges of this, Project Sampoorna was launched.

Based on the success of the community-based COVID-19 management model (Project Mili Juli), Project Sampoorna was launched targeting the mothers of SAM/MAM (Moderate Acute Malnutrition) children.

How did Project Sampoorna work?

Project Sampoorna’s tagline states its purpose – empower mothers, healthy children.

– Buddy mothers: First a healthy mother is identified and paired with the target mother (buddy mothers) of the same Anganwadi Centre (AWC). They were usually neighbours and shared similar socio-economic backgrounds. The pair is given diet chart to indicate daily food intake for the children. they would have discussions about this on all Tuesdays at the AWC. Local practices related to nutrition would also be discussed.

– The project also arranged 100 millilitres of milk and an egg on alternate days for all children for 1st 3 months. Children who did not show improvement were treated by doctors under Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram.

Assistance was taken from UNICEF, IIT Gauhati, Tezpur University and social welfare department for periodic course correction.

What were the challenges faced by the project?

The major hindrance to the project was patriarchy. Mothers had to be empowered financially for sustained results.

Therefore, they were enrolled in Self Help Groups (SHGs) under the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) [Women Empowerment]

What is the way forward?
Project Sampoorna was recognised in the innovation category of the National Nutrition Mission. It also prevented at least 1200 children from becoming malnourished every year.

There is a need to implement Buddy Mothers Model and Women Empowerment Model in the world so that children can enjoy their right to stay healthy.

Source: This post is based on the article ” A vital cog in Bongaigaon’s response in malnutrition ” published in The Hindu on 9th November 2021.