Evaluation of Growth Progress among Malnourished Children Attending Village Child Nutrition Centre (VCNC) Under Mission Balam Sukham at Ahmedabad District, Gujarat

Abstract

Introduction: Government of Gujarat launched “Mission BalamSukham” in the year 2012 to combat the malnutrition with three tier approach. At village level Village Child Nutrition Center (VCNC) runs at Anganwadi centers where children with Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) and Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM) children aged 6 months to 6 years without any medical complications are enrolled for 30 days and provided with the nutrition supplements as per standard protocol including micronutrients. Objectives: To study the growth progress among malnourished children after one month of intervention at VCNC. Method: A cross sectional study was conducted over one year pe¬riod in selected VCNCs of Ahmedabad District. All the malnourished children admitted to these selected VCNCs during study period were included in the study. Data on weight status at admission and discharge, rate of weight gain, grade of malnutrition at entry and exit were collected from the records and analyzed using statistical software. Results: A total of 934 malnourished children were included in the study. A statistically significant difference was observed for weight at discharge (11.1 ± 2.07) and weight at admission (9.92 ± 1.77) for all the children. About 8.7 % children in urban and 16.5 % in rural area achieved the recommended weight gain of 5 grams/kg/day and the difference was statistically significant. In urban and rural area children who achieved the target (>15%) weight gain was 6.3% and 14.7%, respectively and this difference was statistically significant. Conclusion: In the current study, 7.3% children achieved the target (>15%) weight gain. Suggesting that VCNC supplementation for 1 month was not found adequate to give desired result.