Nutrition Journey- a story of change

In August 2012, 18-month-old, malnourished Priya was identified as a case of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM), defined as low weight for height, visible severe wasting, and swollen feet resulting from tissue retention of water.  SAM is the most extreme form of hunger that leads to 35% of preventable deaths among children under five.

photo credit: Suchit Nanda

Inadequate complementary feeding seemed to be the main cause of Priya’s poor nutrition status. Through street plays and mothers’ meetings (topics: nutrition and growth monitoring), Priya’s mother, Kamlesh, now knew what she didn’t know earlier and started to feed Priya adequate amounts of food at regular intervals. Furthermore, Priya was also enrolled in a community based crèche where she received supplementary nutrition and inculcated the habit of eating with her companions. Over a period of three months, Priya’s nutritional status improved from malnutrition grade II to I and after six months she graduated to the normal grade category.

Purnima’s story

16-month-old Purnima came to the Ansal API construction site centre, in Gurgaon, as a malnourished child (Grade 2 Malnutrition Status). She was extremely weak and couldn’t participate much in the centre’s activities. The doctor recommended a special diet, regular body massage and multi-vitamin supplements. MC staff further counseled her mother to give extra attention and take care of her health and hygiene. Purnima’s attendance remained regular and slowly her weight and nutritional status improved to Grade 1.

 

A cheerful Purnima now interacts with other children: she climbs, swings & plays with blocks. At meal times, she is the 1st one in the line!

Perseverance against Malnutrition: Sakshi's Story

Sakshi is one of the 14,500 children we reach out to, every year. Her mother, Radha sighs with relief,“Sakshi ki bahut chinta rahti thi, par ab nahi” (I use to be very worried about Sakshi, but not anymore).

6 months ago, 19-month old Sakshi living in the Khanpur slums, Delhi, weighed 7 kgs, only.

Unaware about compulsory breastfeeding for the first 6 months, Radha supplemented her breast milk with bottle-feed well before the half year mark and, failed to replace the bottle with soft frequent feeds of solids.

With guidance and support from Mobile Creches, Sakshi weighs a healthy 11 kgs today.

Sakshi’s family watched street plays and Radha attended parent meetings on goodnutritional practices. Plus the Mobile Creches team visited her every week to build her confidence and monitor Sakshi’s progress every month. Perseverance won against malnutrition.

Indian has 200 million malnourished children. Do not each of these  children deserve a chance to a better life, like Sakshi?