Author: Anchal Purbey

A National webinar on “Community-based Strategies to address Acute Malnutrition in India” was jointly held on 4th September’20 by the Coalition for Food and Nutrition Security (CFNS) and Paediatric & Adolescent Nutrition Society (PAN SOCIETY) IAP Subspecialty Chapter on Nutrition to highlight the need of bringing SAM management under the fold of essential health and nutrition services.

Since March 2020, due to COVID-19 pandemic, regular ICDS and Health-services have been severely constrained. Optimal care for children, especially those who are malnourished has been disrupted. With COVID-19 outbreak, massive disruptions in continuity of food availability and livelihood are anticipated. The situation may increase the overall SAM burden in the country. The urgent need of this hour is to bring SAM management under the fold of essential health and nutrition services and to ensure continuity of services for the management of child wasting.

The planned webinar aimed to explore the experience of two states that have prioritised management of SAM at community level and learn about how these programs have been adjusted to be relevant even during COVID times. We hope that State Governments can learn from such experiences and take forward such initiatives in their respective states.

The policy brief on “Anticipating Vulnerability of Malnourished Young Children to Covid-19 and Taking Corrective Steps ” has been developed by CTARA IIT Bombay, the knowledge partner of the Coalition for Food and Nutrition Security (CFNS). 

While vulnerability of elderly population in the context of Covid-19 has attracted attention of both policy and academic circles, the same cannot be said in respect of young children. Yet, children under 5 years of age and infants are likely to be vulnerable to Covid-19, particularly those suffering from acute respiratory infection (ARI) and malnutrition. Children in developed nations or in nations with low Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) are unlikely to face this twin condition. However, this will definitely be a problem in India where diarrhoea and ARI are the major causes of child mortality (Lancet Global Health 2019) with 35% stunting and 17% wasting among children aged 0-4 years (CNNS 2019). It stands to reason, that ARI will be a potent co-morbidity that will render these children vulnerable to Covid-19, hence should not lead to compliance.

Please find the link to the full policy brief here:  http://www.iitbnutritiongroup.in/anticipating-vulnerability-of-malnourished-young-children-to-covid-19-and-taking-corrective-steps

Greetings! This April edition (Picks from the Past) of The Good Sight features handpicked stories from each issue of the e-magazine since its inception. All the small and big social changes are well captured in this edition.

We are happy to share the Special Issue of The Good Sight, where they have highlighted CFNS and our interventions. The flip version is here and quite handy:

https://online.flippingbook.com/view/177400/ 

Please find the link below to access the CFNS section directly:

https://online.flippingbook.com/view/177400/80/

“Nutrition on my RADAR Screen” provides a state-wise radar diagram – an interactive data visualization tool developed at the Nutrition Group, CTARA, IIT Bombay (Suggested citation: nutrition on my radar screen Nutrition Group, CTARA, IIT Bombay February 1, 2020)

https://public.tableau.com/profile/ashish.kumar.paswan#!/vizhome/NutritiononmyRADARScreen/Home  

This was released in public domain on February 1, 2020, the 46th foundation Day of CINI (Child in Need Institute) India.

These radar diagram facilitate visualization of relative performances of various states for different domains affecting child nutrition with respect to national average and India’s best score using the NFHS – 4 and the recent CNNS data.

Out of 114 indicators covered under NFHS-4, 42 indicators are selected that reflect and affect child health and nutrition. These were then grouped into 11 domains, their prevalence converted assigned a score with normalized range and then aggregated to form a composite index for each domain.

These diagrams can be used for comparisons across locations and time. These can also be used for prioritizing interventions in proposed action plan at state level and subsequently at the district level (Watch this space!). One can also calibrate different targets based on the position of the district or state vis a vis the average and the ideal scores.

Feedbacks will be appreciated at iitbnutritiongroup@gmail.com .