Even with the state government announcing schemes worth Rs 811 crore to control the contamination of nutrition, the spiking number of malnourished children in the state of Gujarat is alarming. As per the data released by the state government, 18,819 highly malnourished children have been reported in the last 30 days and 5,881 underweight children have been registered.
In the Banaskantha district, the highest number of malnourished children (1535) has been registered. The lowest number of 93 malnourished children ever registered in the Navsari district is 93. The lowest number of 80 children has been registered in the Narmada district. In Ahmedabad, 1445 severely malnourished children have been registered while walking through the municipal area. While the lowest number of 112 children has been registered in the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation area.
An amount of Rs 29976.16 lakh has been allocated by the Central Government in the last 3 years under the National Nutrition Mission. Of this, Rs 99,395 lakh was allocated over three years under the Anganwadi Service Scheme and Rs 89,389.74 lakh for the supplementary nutrition programme. During the financial year 2020–21, as on April 1, 2020, an amount of Rs 14.779.16 lakh was available with the Government of Gujarat. So the central government did not allocate the grant. Highly malnourished children are considered to be children who fall into the Z score below who’s Child Growth Standard-3SD. According to the age group, the weight and height of the children are very low.
In the last 30 days, 5,881 children with low birth weight have been born in the state. The highest number of children has been registered in the Mehsana district at 328. The lowest number of cases, 26 cases, has been registered in Junagadh city. Among children with LBW, there are 723 (1.74%) children in severe condition. There are 5159 (12.46%) children falling into the middle class. In 23 districts of the state, the number of malnourished children, i.e., those who have been underweight since birth, is increasing.
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