One of the two key indicators to assess the food and nutrition status of the community is to measure the anaemic status among pregnant mothers and women in general.

And the other is the level of malnutrition cases, especially among the under-5 years (U5) children.

The food and nutrition security programme Sabal has created a greater impact in reducing malnutrition among under-5 years children which were revealed from the two mid-line nutritional studies conducted in 2019 and 2020 with the Under 5 children of 30 villages of Khalwa block of Khandwa region where the project is being implemented. The random survey of 269 of 343 children under the nutritional study-2020 revealed a substantial decrease of 26.2% in malnutrition cases in the underweight category and a 16.8% reduction under the wasting category. However, the percentage of children with stunting (chronic malnutrition) has increased by 9.6%.

Assessing the malnutrition status is easier to measure as it depends on the fixed parameters of height, weight, gender and age of children. But the task becomes more challenging when it comes to tracking the improvement of the anaemic condition of Korku women. The primary parameter to assess the accurate anaemic condition of the women is through blood sample testing in the laboratory. Even though the grassroots health professionals like Auxiliary Nurse-Midwife (ANM) maintains the health status of the women especially pregnant mothers and adolescent girls. The reliability of the data has been under question.

It was not possible for the Sabal programme team to take health assessments of every woman at the pathological centres. Since assessment of the status of the anaemic condition was the second important key indicator to satisfy the requirement of the programme impact, the programme needed an easier yet effective method to carry out the initiative. The approach needs to be simplistic so even the Sabal team could carry out the process effectively without much medical knowledge and assistance.

While exploring the possibilities for feasible methods for conducting the study Mr. Robin George, Programme Manager – Sabal came to know about the haemoglobin (Hb) measurement device which can be used for conducting quick health assessment and to check the anaemic status of a person. This Portable hemoglobinometers provide an easy and convenient measurement of hematological variables, especially in areas where no clinic laboratories are available.

“We needed to provide a simple yet reliable way to do the anaemic assessment to get accurate results about the health conditions of the mothers and adolescent girls with which Sabal is working for so many years,” shares Mr. Robin George.

An orientation programme was organized on 30th June to build the capacity of the Sabal team of Khandwa Diocesan Social Services (KDSS) on using the device effectively. The programme was participated by the organizational director Fr. Jayan Alex, Mrs. Rajkishori Tigga, Programme Executive, Mr. Rakesh Karole, Coordinator – Sabal along with his team.

Caritas India – Sabal management team is planning to conduct a cross-sectional study to assess the impact of programme activities on reducing the anaemic condition among the Korku pregnant women and women in general.