Malnutrition: the hidden reality of Korku Children

His name is Karan and he is 14 months old but looking at him you would not believe that he is suffering from Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM).

Children suffering from MAM have an increased risk of mortality and it is associated with a high number of nutrition-related deaths. If not given adequate support, the child can progress Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) a condition which is life-threatening.

Surviving on a usual diet of pulses, bread and rice, Karan hardly gets enough macronutrients, vitamins and minerals required for a healthy body. He weighs 6.5 kg and according to WHO standard, his weight is lighter by 7.2 kg.

His mother is unable to get him health benefits from Anganwadi Centre as she works the whole day to earn the livelihood for her family and hardly can take out time to visit the centre and avail the necessary support for his child.

Belonging to the Korku tribe, Karan at that small age hardly understand his needs but children like him suffer from stunting which limits their physical height along with emotional, social and cognitive development.

Manglesh, a Nutrition Health Worker of Caritas India SABAL program identified Karan and started counselling his family especially his mother and grandmother on Karan’s health.

He shared the importance of diversified diet for the toddler’s proper growth and suggested them to take the child regularly to an Anganwadi centre to get him free balanced meal once a day. He even personally requested the Anganwadi staff to take special care of Karan.

The challenge was to convince the mother to take extra time and adopt the new regime. Constant follow up have convinced the mother to visit the local Anganwadi centre and avail balanced meal for Karan. She also received Take Home Ration (THR) from Anganwadi to cook better diet back at home.

Within a couple of months, visible changes were observed in Karan’s Body Mass Index (BMI), and his weight started increasing steadily to reach 7 kg along with MUAC increase to sober 13, indicating a healthy growth.

Timely counselling and support have helped Karan to revive from his malnutrition and live a healthy life. Nutrition Health Workers from SABAL programme is doing a commendable work in the remote villages of Madhya Pradesh to fight the battle of malnutrition.

The programme with a nutrition and food security thrust is supporting the 93 villages of Korku community in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra to increase productivity, revive traditional agriculture, provide protein support and functionalizing public systems.