Chennai: P. Tamilarasan, a four-year-old boy at Chinna Edayathur, Thirukulakundram, is terrified at the sight of the Anganwadi centre there — not because of having to study, but because his teacher-cum-help demands that he fetch the groceries, clean the centre and much more. To add to his trauma, he claimed that the food given there was stale. His mother, a casual labourer working under the MGNREGA scheme, had to quit working to take care of him.
Child rights activists opine that if the Anganwadi centres in the country had functioned effectively, malnutrition levels among children would have reduced to a significant level. A Unicef report, titled ‘Committing to child survival: A promise renewed’, said that “in the year 2011, around 1.7 million children across the country did not live to witness their fifth birthday due to acute malnutrition.
Though initiatives by the Health Department, Integrated Child Development Services Scheme (ICDS), and various organisations have helped bring down the burden of malnutrition, the problem continues to persist in both rural and urban Tamil Nadu.
“The state health department has been working with ICDS on various programmes to bring down the burden. Most of the responsibilities being carried out are joint responsibilities. The issues of health, nutrition and sanitation are interrelated,” said Director, Department of Public Health, Dr K. Kulandaisamy.
“With the help of ICDS workers, we have been conducting an ‘Immunisation programme’ to check vaccine-preventable diseases, like diphtheria, whooping cough, polio, measles and tuberculosis. In addition to that, we administer Vitamin A to the children, once in every six months. This is done to prevent Vitamin A deficiencies,” he said adding that two millilitres of Vitamin A is administered to children above six months, up to five years of age.
The state health department also carries out an anaemia control programme, wherein syrup and tablets are administered to the children for 100 days.
“We also give the children de-worming medicines twice a year,” added the director of the department.
About 770 mobile medical teams have been set up exclusively for schools and ICDS centres across the state, so as to check the health status of the children there. The aspect of nutritional education is also being looked into.
“Despite all these initiatives being taken up, malnutrition among children continues to exist due to various factors, including infections, genetic problems during birth, multiple pregnancies, and the like,” said paediatrician Dr. Lekshmy.
The health department gives iron tablets and de-worming medicines to pregnant women along with nutritional advice. “Gross malnutrition in the state has disappeared and the impact of the efforts of the initiatives can be seen through the fact that children today are taller than their parents and grandparents,” stated Dr. Kulandaisamy. “We get help from various organisations like World Vision of India, Children’s development groups and Unicef,” he added.
However, a reality check at the ICDS centres shows how food is often insufficient for the children as the workers swindle the groceries. “From fetching the firewood for cooking to cleaning the rooms, kids are made to carry out arduous tasks. Swindling of the groceries by the workers is highly observed,” added Advocate of High Court, N. Lalitha
“Most workers are unaware of the concept of ‘Nutrition’. How then can they take up the task of providing nutritious food? They are already suffering with work burden as they play the roles of a teacher, help and a cook, said State Convener, Tamil Nadu Child Rights Observatory (TNCRO), Professor, M. Andrew Sesuraj.
