Number of Severe Malnourished Children in Kanchi Shows Declining Trend
The ‘sathumavu’ contains roasted wheat flour, malted ragi flour, full fat soya flour, jaggery, roasted groundnut flour and a premix of vitamins and minerals. In addition to the contents of sathu maavu, the fortified biscuits have peanut grit, maida, refined vegetable oil and sugar.
Chennai: The number of children under the age of six with severe acute malnutrition in Kanchipuram has come down to 711 in the year 2025-26 from 907 in the previous year. The number of such children is on a declining trend from the year 2023-24 when it was 1,542, according to the statistics given by the social welfare department which runs the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) centres.
When the number of children with severe as well as moderate malnutrition is added up as per the statistics in January 2026, the district reported a total of 6,677 in the year 2025-26 compared to 14,883 children identified in 2022. Out of the 6,677 total malnourished children in 2025-26, a total of 711 come under severe acute malnutrition and the remaining 5,966 are categorised as children with moderate malnutrition.
The problem of anaemia continues with about 45 percent of children under the age of five years showing iron deficiency. There are about 16 percent of underweight children in the district as on 2025-26. The decrease in the number of children with malnutrition is attributed to the targeted intervention of ICDS, the social welfare officials said.
According to them, a total of 940 ICDS (Anganwadi) centres are operating under six child development project offices. Malnourished children receive 60g of fortified biscuits daily, while those with moderate deficiency receive 30g.
The ‘sathumavu’ contains roasted wheat flour, malted ragi flour, full fat soya flour, jaggery, roasted groundnut flour and a premix of vitamins and minerals. In addition to the contents of sathu maavu, the fortified biscuits have peanut grit, maida, refined vegetable oil and sugar. Hot cooked meals are given to the ICDS children with boiled eggs thrice a week.
The programme called ‘Uttachathi Uruthi Sei’ (Ensure nutrition) provides ready-to-use therapeutic food nutri-kits and specialised health mixes like ‘sathumavu’ to the beneficiaries. The ICDS workers monitor the growth and health of the children through the ICDS centres and identify the children needing medical care.
Besides providing supplementary nutrition, the ICDS provides pre-school non-formal education, nutrition and health education, health checkup, immunisation and referral services. The main beneficiaries of the ICDS schemes are children under the age of six years, antenatal and postnatal mothers, girls and women aged between 14 to 49 years. The total number of beneficiaries under the scheme in entire Tamil Nadu comes to 27.34 lakh.
