Patna: The Bihar government is conducting an intensive survey to identify undernourished children following the COVID-19 pandemic. The identified children will be admitted to the Nutritional Rehabilitation Centres (NRCs) for treatment.
Authorities said 200,000 anganwadi (child care centres) workers, health workers and auxiliary nurse midwives (ANMs) have been trained to identify undernourished children. Armed with questionnaires, the workforce will visit homes and ask five questions to parents with regard to their children’s health, weight, height, food intake and vaccination, officials said.
The campaign will be carried out in January 2021. Bihar has 45,103 villages spread across 38 districts.
“The persons concerned to be engaged in the jobs have been adequately trained about how to identify the undernourished children. The undernourished will be instantly admitted to the NRCs,” Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS)’s executive director Alok Kumar told the media. The ICDS functions under the social welfare department.
Officials said the children would be admitted to the nearest NRCs and kept under the supervision of doctors and dieticians for 21 days. At the NRCs, the parents will be provided information about the children’s health and nutrition.
Officials said many children may have been badly affected as a result of the nation-wide COVID-19-induced lockdown. Midday meals were not provided to the children as schools and anganwadi centres remained closed. Also, many families were not able to take medical care of their children during the lockdown as transport services remained suspended.
According to the National Family Health Survey (2019-20), only 10.9 per cent children in the age group of six to 13 months have been receiving an adequate diet. The report further identified children in the age group of six-29 months as anaemic. Undernutrition is measured across three indices of stunting (low height-for-age), wasting (low weight-for-height) and underweight (low weight-for-age).
“Cooked meals provided through anganwadi centres and the midday meal scheme act as important safety nets protecting children from hunger and severe lack of nutrition. In the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, these two services have been stopped, exacerbating the plight of the children,” said Pratyush Singh and Chandan Kumar, researchers from JNU. According to them, child undernutrition is significantly more severe in Bihar than in several other states.
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