In Maharashtra’s Thane district, there have been over 1,000 cases of child malnutrition documented; 83 of those cases are severe acute malnutrition, and 1,161 are moderate acute malnutrition.
Almost a thousand cases of malnutrition in children have been found in Maharashtra’s Thane district, which is close to Mumbai. An official announcement states that there are 1,161 cases of “moderate acute malnutrition” and 83 cases of “severe acute malnutrition” at this time. Manuj Jindal, the chief executive officer of the Zilla Parishad, has declared his goal to eradicate malnourishment in Thane in six months, as per a PTI report. His visit to families in Shahapur taluka that had children who were undernourished is what led to this conclusion.
To tackle this issue, the district initiated the ‘Kuposhan Muktisathi Dattak-Palak Abhiyan.’ In order to provide the necessary care, officials in this government-led enterprise adopt specific youngsters. The press statement emphasised the CEO’s directive for routine follow-ups with adopted children, with a goal of contact every 15 days. The report also stated that doctors, nurses, Anganwadi workers, ASHA workers, supervisors, and workers have been directed to visit malnourished children every day to see if they have improved.
As per the PTI report, the CEO assessed the functioning of nearby public health clinics and child treatment centres during his visit, underscoring the necessity of continuing care for these susceptible children.
According to an RTI investigation earlier in September by the non-profit organisation Samarthan, during the previous fifteen years, 51,104 children in Maharashtra, up to the age of six, had passed away from illnesses brought on by chronic nutritional inadequacies. Palghar is one of the 16 districts dominated by tribals, but despite being close to Mantralaya, 101 crucial management and supervisory jobs are vacant, suggesting that the government is disjointed.
The Palghar Zilla Parishad CEO said that efforts would be made to hire contract workers to fill open positions, but a tribal issues activist drew attention to the fact that most of the openings are for managerial and supervisory positions, which are essential for employing responsible workers. Thane, Raigad, Pune, Nashik, Ahmednagar, Dhuke, Jalgaon, Nandurbar, Amravati, Yavatmal, Nanded, Gondia, Gadchiroli, Nagpur, and Chandrapur are among the locations where one can find tribal communities.
These communities suffer from low birth weight (LBW), preterm delivery, and inadequate nutrition—all of which are problems shared by Palghar. Samarthan coordinator Rupesh Kir said that, according to health department data, over 51,000 tribal children in Maharashtra tragically died over a 15-year period, with Nandurbar being the worst-affected area with 3,939 recorded cases of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) through December 2022.
According to the NGO’s research, there were an alarming 5,327 SAM cases by the end of 2022 in 16 tribally dominated districts, up from 2,540 instances in 2020.
