An NGO in Chhattisgarh is addressing the urgent deficit in nutrition by providing three meals a day to children under three along with daycare.
Since 2009, the NGO Jan Swasthya Sahyog has been running creches or phulwaris where children under the age of three can stay for eight hours. They eat three meals, including khichdi and sattu, eggs (twice a week) and iron supplements, and are taught to maintain hygiene. As a result, the proportion of underweight children has come down from 56% to 27%, and that of children suffering from wasting (low weight for height) has come down from 26% to 5%.
This model is being practised with some success in Odisha, Bihar and Jharkhand. MP aims to start 75 creches this year.
Read more of this in a report by Himanshi Dhawan published in The Times of India...
