The grand picture of Gujarat’s rapid strides in development has one jarring note, urban malnutrition. In an all-out effort to wipe this blot, the civic body has planned a slew of measures targeting slums in the city.
The grand picture of Gujarat’s rapid strides in development has one jarring note __ urban malnutrition. In an all-out effort to wipe this blot, the civic body has planned a slew of measures targeting slums in the city.
The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) will organise a massive rally on malnutrition on September 10. AMC also plans to reach out to the urban poor with public awareness advertisements related to nutrition on hoardings across the city.
According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data, around 40% of urban poor children are stunted and 33% underweight. The study singles out Gujarat for being one of the states with high concentration of malnourished children.
Talking about the significance of nutrition, medical health official of AMC, Dr S Kulkarni said, “A person who was malnourished as a child is susceptible to disease due to low immunity levels. Malnutrition also affects the Intelligent Quotient (IQ) of the child. This makes it important to spread awareness about breast-feeding, nutrition and impact of malnourishment.”
A health department official, requesting anonymity, said that according to the report, the nutritional status of children is strongly linked to the mother’s education. “The percentage of children who are severely underweight is almost five times high among children whose mothers have no education compared to children whose mothers have 12 or more years of education. Children from scheduled tribes have the poorest nutritional status, while the high prevalence of wastage (28%) is also high in this group,” added the official.
Though the route is not yet finalised, the health department official said the rally would pass through slum pockets of the city. Educational pamphlets will be distributed to families during the rally.
AMC presently conducts cookery demonstrations in different parts of the city where aanganwadi workers give instructions on cooking for the expectant mother and newborn using food packets provided by the state government.
civic body plans a Massive rally on September 10 targeting slums for reducing malnutrition
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