Yogi government conducts ‘Sambhav campaign’ to end malnutrition in UP

Lucknow: With an aim to eliminate malnutrition from Uttar Pradesh, the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath-led government conducted the ‘Sambhav Abhiyan’ across the state in June this year. Under the campaign, treatment is being provided to around 2.5 lakh malnourished children, so that they can grow like normal children. The progress report of all these children will be assessed next month.

Since 2021, the government has been running the ‘Sambhav Abhiyan’ every year to identify malnourished children, which has yielded positive results.

According to data obtained through e-Kavach, 2,48,728 severely malnourished (SAM) children aged zero to five years have been identified this year. After a health examination of these children, they are being provided with vaccinations, iron, folic acid, multivitamins, and calcium based on their health conditions.

Notably, Anganwadi workers are visiting the homes of these identified children every 15 days to check if their weight is increasing. So far, 16,645 children have been referred to Nutrition Rehabilitation Centers (NRCs) based on their needs while around 63,148 more children are yet to be referred to NRCs.

It is worth mentioning here that the National Nutrition Month began on September 1. During this month, assessment will be conducted to see how many of these identified children have become healthy. In October, the entire campaign will be evaluated. In December, the children’s weight will be measured again to ascertain if there has been any change in their nutritional status.

Bijnor ranks first in nutrition campaign

The performance of Moradabad division has been rated the best in the state in carrying out ‘Sambhav campaign’ . Among the top performing districts, Bijnor is ranked first, Unnao second, Muradabad third, Varanasi fourth, and Jaunpur fifth. Similarly, Ghaziabad is ranked sixth, Shravasti seventh, Rampur eighth, Amroha ninth, and Chandauli tenth. The ranking of the districts has been done on the basis of seven parameters.

Notably, according to SGPGI’s dietitian Preeti Yadav, children are considered malnourished if their weight and height are not in a certain ratio, Additionally, if a child has swelling in both legs upto six months of his/her age, they will also be categorized as malnourished.

To prevent a child from getting malnourished, attention needs to be paid to nutrition of the mother during pregnancy and ensure start of breastfeeding immediately after birth. Additionally, a baby needs to be fed only mother’s milk for the first six months and any other food or drink should be avoided.

Furthermore, nutritious complementary foods should be included after six months along with mother’s milk.