The Indian government has launched the first ever ‘Protocol for Identification and Management of Malnutrition in Children’, a key document to guide the work on reducing child malnutrition in the country.
Released yesterday, on October 11, by Union Minister of Women and Child Development (WCD) Smriti Irani, the protocols explain in detail the identification of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition (SAM), and the processes that are needed for a healthy weight of the children. SAM kids have nine times higher risk of dying than well-nourished children.
The document also provides some comprehensive norms on dietary requirements for various levels of malnutrition that are found among children.
The protocols have been prepared by the WCD Ministry in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and the Ministry of Ayush.
Minister Irani said in the event that the Centre was now strengthening the foundation of the nutrition ecosystem with the development of protocols. SAM children who fail the appetite test will be referred to Nutritional Rehabilitation Centres (NRC), which will also be linked to medical centres.
As per official statement, “After the identification of children through growth monitoring data, appetite tests will be done on all SAM children for medical complications. Screening of the malnourished children at OPDs and in-patient wards in health facilities, using weight for height, and weight for age measurements will be conducted.”
In July 2021, replying to a question asked about the health of children in the country, Irani had informed the lower house of the Parliament that there were a total of 927,606 children that are identified as severely acute malnourished.
The Union Minister also informed the house that amongst these, 398,359 children were from Uttar Pradesh.
