Collector R.V.. Shajeevana .
Feeding malnourished children with supplementary diet in the age group of six months to six years on a pilot study taken by the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) has shown some significant improvement, said Theni Collector R V Shajeevana here on Sunday.
Speaking to The Hindu, she said that about six months ago, when they had organised a traditional food festival with 21 types of snacks, it attracted a lot of youngsters. The ICDS officials chose five types of snacks and identified 34 out of the 1065 Anganwadi centres from where 510 children were given the snacks.
The children, who were screened as SAM (severe acute malnutrition) and MAM (moderate acute malnutrition) were provided with the special snacks which included “kozhukattai” “Sathumaavu payasam” “puttu” and nutritious flour coconut milk roll. It was proposed to give the children one snack everyday at 11 a.m.
The district, which has 53,992 children enrolled in the anganwadis in the age group of 6 months to 6 years, had normal children and also kids severely malnourished and severely stunted, among others. It was decided to feed the severely malnourished kids with the special snacks.
Beginning from March, the children were given the supplementary diet by the volunteers between Monday and Friday. During holidays, the mothers were trained and given the diet so that the children had them without any break.
An anganwadi worker in Theni town said that they prepared “kozhukattai urundai” “puttu” and other items with ghee, coconut, peanuts, almond, banana and jaggery. After training, the mothers were given Take Home Ration (THR) of the ‘sathumaavu’ which were taken for pilot study.
She said that the early results, which were taken a fortnight ago, showed significant improvement. Overall, the change was 22.89 %.. Explaining, she said that 201 children including 53 malnourished kids and 148 moderately malnourished from 34 Anganwadis had gained weight.
The Collector said that the data of the children, who had taken supplementary diet, were recorded by the officials and monitored by another team. The paediatric team of doctors screened also confirmed the weight gain by the beneficiaries.
The doctors said that the special snacks menu, if continued for a long term, it would certainly produce noteworthy results. The government intervention would be a major advantage as the districts may not be able to sustain the program due to paucity of funds.
Yet another challenge to continue the supplementary diet for the children without any interruption would be the cooperation from the parents. The attitude of the staffs at the Anganwadi centres also matters much since any new initiative may not be welcome.
Considering the outcome, the increase in costs of the materials such as ghee, almonds et al, and the production costs may be insignificant, the doctors said and appreciated the pilot study effected by the district administration.
Ms Shajeevana said that they had plans to bring in more number of anganwadi centres in a phased manner and attributed the success to her entire team and the volunteers.
