Kids severely malnourished but Karnataka govt looks the other way

Is the state government ignoring the epidemic of malnourishment hitting our children? With the poor quality of mid-day meals, no proper nutrition policy in place, and poor coordination within different departments, the state has 20,601 children who are severely malnourished, according to recent statistics available with the Women and Child Welfare Department.Even though Karnataka was the first state in the country to announce a comprehensive nutrition health mission in 2010 -when B S Yeddyurappa was the chief minister -the project has been in limbo after the centre announced a National Nutrition Mission in its budget on July 10, 2014.But even that mission has not been implemented in any state.
As of now, there are two schemes that cover nutrition: The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) and Midday Meal programme. In a recent proposal sent to the government's policy think tank NITI Aayog, retired IAS and state advisor to the Karnataka Nutrition Mission, Dr Veena Rao, submitted a detailed report suggesting both direct and indirect intervention to control the growing epidemic of malnutrition in the state.The proposal was submitted on June 27, 2016.
The only nutrition programme for children between the ages of six and 14 is the Midday Meal scheme which has been mired in controversy due to the substandard meals given out. The proposal states that there is a huge awareness and information deficit across the population regarding proper food intake and nutritional practices.
"There are crucial prescriptions of the national nutrition policy, 1993, that could have had a positive and sustainable impact on the nutritional status of the general public over time.These were not translated into national schemes. Moreover, neither state nor country has a national programme to combat under nutrition and micronutrient deficiency," stated the proposal.
After identifying the number of malnourished children in the state, government records suggested that severely undernourished children are given meals worth Rs9. Women and Child Welfare minister Umashree also ensured that children who require immediate treatment would be treated under the Balsanjeevni Yojana scheme, and children who are severely malnourished would be given milk and eggs on a daily basis. The department also claims to provide therapeutic food and treatment at the Nutritional Rehabilitation Centre that comes under the health and family welfare department.
But there is a strong need for extended intervention. Speaking to Bangalore Mirror, Dr Rao said, "The only solution is to come up with a multi-sector project that would demand better coordination from sev eral departments within the state government. As part of the Karnataka Nutritional Health Mission we have taken up one such project, funded by the World Bank, that was being implemented by the Department of Rural Development under minister H K Patil. It that is still running in Chincholi and Devadurga and several people have benefited from the project. At the Block level only the ZPs can provide the oral convergence required to address malnutrition.Another solution is to flood the country with low-cost energy for children with involvement from the private sector, because that is where the solution lies."
ARE MIDDAY MEAL SCHEMES OF LOW QUALITY?
A study published by the Institute of Public Health focused on social determinants of childhood malnutrition on government primary school children in three districts of Karnataka revealed that there is a large proportion of primary schoolchildren that are malnourished. The study, done by the Azim Premji University, concluded that social determinants such as gender, caste and age are significant contributors to the nutritional outcome of children.
Almost 24 per cent of girls and 36 per cent of boys were found to be underweight. The study suggested that there is a need to go beyond the Midday Meal scheme and micronutrient supplementation programmes for school-going children to tackle the problem with a multipronged strategy.