An astonishing 60,000 children, aged up to five years, have been found to be malnourished in the Maharajganj district, around 60 kms away from Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's home district of Gorakhpur.
The figure came to light in an internal survey report after it was conducted between October and December, 2017. Interestingly, Maharajganj was carved out as a separate district from primarily Gorakhpur in 1989, keeping in mind the backwardness of the region.
Around 29 years after the district was formed, it seems not much changed and the district continues to be one of the most backward in the state.
According to a 2011 census, there were over 4 lakh children below the age of 6.
"The survey was done among children below the age of 5," District Development Officer, who is also the district programme officer of Integrated Child Development Services, ICDS Azad Shatru Shahi said.
At the time when the survey was being conducted, Anganwadi workers were on a strike. Nutrition supply also got affected for a month in October after the government cancelled tenders, sources said.
However, District Magistrate Amarnath Upadhyaya said that any disruption for two months could not be the reason for the huge number of malnourished children.
Citing reasons, he said that the area is affected by floods almost every year, leading to damage to crops. Similarly, since the land is marshy, a mosquito menace also has added to the woes of the people, the DM said, adding that since the district also is in the grip of Japanese Encephalitis, its outbreak also takes a toll on the children. People in the area are less aware of food habits than in any other district of western UP, he further said.
He said that efforts are on to reduce the number of malnourished children by intensifying nutrition supply schemes and by making people more aware of their food habits.
Around 140 officers have been shortlisted to work on these issues, the DM further said and added that they have been tasked with visiting villages in the district and monitoring the progress of the schemes and making people aware about various necessities. There are around 1,265 villages in the district, the DM said.
Chief Medical Officer Kshama Pandey, while talking to Zee Media, said that the joint hospital in the district has a 10-unit ward, especially for extremely malnourished children. In the ward, these children are admitted for 10 to 15 days and are taken care of under the supervision of a nutritionist.
DOCTOR SPEAK
- Chief Medical Officer Kshama Pandey, while talking to Zee Media, said that the joint hospital in the district has a 10-unit ward, especially for extremely malnourished children
- In the ward, these children are admitted for 10 to 15 days and are taken care of under the supervision of a nutritionist
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