Chhattisgarh Affairs
Citing a survey of women and child development, the state government claimed that the rate of child malnutrition has reduced to 19.86% from 30.13% in Chhattisgarh. InChhattisgarh, nearly 1.70 lakh children have become free from malnutrition with the successful implementation of MukhyamantriSuposhan Abhiyaan(Chief Minister’s Nutrition Campaign) which started on October 2, 2019, said officials.
As per officials of Women and child development, Mukhyamantri Suposhan Abhiyaan proved to be successful in reducing Malnutrition rate in Chhattisgarh. According to the data of the “Vajan Tyohar” (weight festival) organized by theDepartment of Women and Child Developmentin the state from 2016 to 2022, the rate of malnutrition has dropped down continuously.
Women and child development department takes the weight of all the children in a particular period and determines the nutritional level during weight festival. In July 2021, weight of about 22 lakh children was taken by the department within 10 days and nutritional assessment was done. The has ensured that the data of the weight festival is verified by external agencies as well. Quoting the National Health Survey-5, state officials said that the rate of malnutrition has reduced in Chhattisgarh. The national Average for malnutrition is 32.1 per cent, while that in Chhattisgarh is 31.3 per cent. Thus malnutrition in Chhattisgarh is less than the national average. Besides, according to theNational Family HealthSurvey-4 year 2015-16, the rate of malnutrition in Chhattisgarh was 37.7 %, while the national average rate at that time was 35.8 %.
According to the survey report of NFHS-5, the rate of malnutrition in the state of Chhattisgarh has come down by 6.4 per cent and this rate has dipped to just 31.3 per cent now. The report of National Family Health had said that efforts made by the Chhattisgarh Government to reduce malnutrition have shown positive results, said states health officials.