497 severely malnourished children in the district

Over 497 children were found to be severely malnourished and 1,983 children were found to be moderately malnourished in the district. The highest number of 135 severely and 475 moderately malnourished children are in Paithan tehsil. This has come to the fore in the survey of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme. "Malnourished children are being provided additional dietary meals by the child welfare department of the Zilla Parishad (ZP), under the supervision of the supervisors. Therefore, we will see a reduction in malnutrition in next three months," said deputy chief executive officer Dr Prasad Mirkale.

Various initiatives were implemented for training, counseling and creating awareness at Anganwadi and district level to reduce malnutrition of children below the age of six years. Additional meals are being provided as per the three-month dietary guidelines. So these children will be out of malnutrition. Two extremely and two moderately malnourished children have been adopted by a supervisor. Additional food is being provided under their supervision, Mirkale said.

Box:

Nutrition rehabilitation center closed

The ten-bed nutrition rehabilitation center at the district civil hospital was started last year. This year, the center is closed as the district hospital is now a Covid hospital. Here the children were kept with their mothers for 14 days and treated under the supervision of a dietician. More than a hundred children benefited from the center. In addition, the mothers of malnourished children were being paid Rs 100 per day.

Tehsil wise statistics

Tehsil Acute Malnourished Moderate Malnourished

Aurangabad: 35 353

Phulambri: 46 206

Sillod: 52 14

Soygaon: 39 231

Kannad: 45 17

Khultabad: 23 54

Gangapur: 83 351

Vaijapur: 39 42

Paithan: 135 475

Total: 497 1,983