Chennai: One-third of the world’s under nourished children are in India and an estimated 61 million, half of the total child population in the country, are stunted due to chronic undernutrition, according to the 2013 Unicef report on Improving Child Nutrition The Achievable Imperative for Global Progress. Despite the report being published more than a year back still people continue to remain unaware about it.
A main reason behind this is lack of awareness among the expecting and young mothers and also lack of information provided to them. Chennai is no different as young mothers continue to remain unaware of the importance of the first 1,000 days and the unique window of opportunity to shape a bright future for their children. A report produced by the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3) India says that good child care practices are influenced by mother’s education.
In India, 49 per cent of mothers of children under five years of age have never attended school and only nine per cent have completed 12 or more years of schooling. So this implies the young and expecting mothers need to be educated and informed. Awareness needed to be increased. All mothers are eager to provide nutrition to the child. But are not aware of the importance of the first 1,000 days. said Dr S. Srinivasan, Nutrition Department, Institute of Child Health and Hospital for Children at Egmore here.
Asked whether the Government Children’s Hospital provided any information he said. “No specific information is given to young or expecting mothers on this aspect. A lot of information needs to be given but it doesn’t happen”. Alka Singh, state programme manager, Save The Children (NGO), said a survey last year on 600 children of the most vulnerable section of society, which were the non-notified 20 slums, revealed that 25 per cent were undernourished. Saba Mebrahtu of Unicef India said, “Hospitals are only one of the many institutions that could play a role to highlight the importance of the first 1,000 days.
