The Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani on October 10 launched a ‘Protocol for Management of Malnutrition in Children’.
Key points
- The protocol aims to identify and provide extensive care to malnourished children in the country which includes fresh initiatives like appetite testing and “buddy mother” concept.
- It provides detailed 10-step guidelines for identification and management of malnourished children at the Anganwadi level, including decision-making for referral, nutritional management and follow-up care.
- It includes growth monitoring, appetite testing, nutritional management of malnourished children and follow up care of children who manage to achieve requisite growth parameters after intervention.
- It also includes unique initiatives like the “Buddy mother” concept which was first used in the state of Assam. Under this scheme, the mother of a healthy baby guides the mother of a malnourished child at an Angandwadi centre every week.
- The identification of malnourished children and their treatment is an integral aspect of Mission Poshan 2.0 and more than 17 crore activities have taken place during the ‘poshan maah’ (nutrition month).
- The standardised protocol is significant as until recently, treatment of children with Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) was considered to be restricted to facility-based approaches. This is the first time this issue would be addressed at the Anganwadi level, including decision-making for referral, nutritional management and follow-up care.
