Govt allocates more money under nutrition for severely underweight kids

Bhubaneswar: The state govt on Tuesday announced cost enhancement of the supplementary nutrition provided to severely underweight children aged between 6 months and 6 years and breakfast provided to preschoolers at Anganwadi centres for strengthening early childhood nutrition.Deputy chief minister Pravati Parida announced that the daily allocation for supplementary nutrition for severely underweight children has been increased from Rs 8 to Rs 12 per child. In addition to this, an extra Rs 6 will be provided under the chief minister’s Sampoorna Pushti Yojana. Altogether, severely underweight children will now get cooked food and dry ration worth Rs 18 every day.Close to 35,000 severely underweight children across the state will benefit from this. The govt will bear an additional expenditure of Rs 10.74 crore towards this initiative, Parida said, while addressing an event here. “This is a major intervention to support the overall growth and development of children who require enhanced nutritional care,” she added.Apart from this, the cost of breakfast provided to children aged 3 to 6 attending pre-school activities at Anganwadi centres has also been increased from Rs 1.24 to Rs 3.56 per child. In doing so, the state govt will bear an annual expenditure of Rs 126.83 crore from its own budget.“We are hopeful that this increased allocation will help in provision of better quality food with higher calorie and protein intake. It will also improve dietary diversity leading to better health and weight gain among children,” Parida, who also holds the women and child development portfolio, said.On the occasion, Parida released a digital book, titled ‘Importance of First 1,000 Days of Life’, which aims at raising awareness on nutrition and other needs of children in this crucial phase of life. “The first 1,000 days of life, from conception until a child’s second birthday, constitute the most critical period for a child’s overall growth and development. Nearly 85% of brain growth takes place before the child reaches two years,” she said.The department plans to disseminate the digital book among all Anganwadi workers. Officials said awareness on the subject will be done through Anganwadi knowledge centres where Anganwadi workers will be sensitised about the first 1,000 days of a child. Anganwadi workers will use the digital book during home visits to raise awareness among beneficiaries. They added that efforts are also being made to reach out to mothers through social media platforms on maternal and child nutrition during this crucial phase.