- Poverty-stricken parents demand ICDS classes be shut but want to take home food for kids

The magnitude of problem of malnutrition among children and anaemia amongst women in India, including Gujarat, is borne by the fact that 41 per cent of children are underweight and 55 per cent wome

Interventions to fight malnutrition must be simultaneous with outcomes being monitored by an overarching body.

The introduction last month of double fortified salt (DFS)—containing an iron supplement in addition to the usual iodine—brings a new edge to the fight against malnutrition.

AHMEDABAD: As many as 41% of the children in the state are underweight and 55% of the women between 15 to 45 years of age in the state are anemic. This was revealed in a Rajya Sabha session on Thursday.

Union minister of state (independent charge) for women and child development, Krishna Tirath in Rajya Sabha gave the details of the number of women and children suffering from malnutrition. Tirath was replying to a question posed by Member of Parliament from Jharkhand, Parimal Nathwani.

A probe by the Karnataka Lokayukta into the supply of food to the Integrated Child Development Services has found that Department of Women and Child Development officials in connivance with the con

An important scheme to improve the health and lifestyle of residents in rural pockets around Tambaram and also to improve access to proper sanitation is in disarray owing to neglect on the part of State government agencies.

The Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) of the Ministry of Rural Development aims at elimination of open defecation in rural areas and ensuring that all households, schools and Children's Centres of Integrated Child Development Services or government-run creches have toilets. The scheme also mandates the construction of at least one integrated sanitary complex in every rural local body.

Rising trends in malnutrition among children under six here and in other cities have prompted the Maharashtra government to introduce an Urban Malnutrition Mission from next month, official sources said. A quarter of children below six years in the city weighed at anganwadis are underweight, according to the latest monthly progress report (MPR) of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS). Non-governmental organisations point to a severe crisis of primary health services and lack of adequate number of anganwadis in slum areas.

Neenv — a network of grass-roots non-governmental organisations working for children under six in urban poor settlements in Delhi — has sought more clarity on restructuring of the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) under the government's Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) policy.

The proposed ECCE refers to programmes for children from prenatal to six years, which cater for the needs of a child in all domains of development, including physical, motor, language, cognitive, socio-emotional, and creative and aesthetic appreciation, and provides synergy with health and nutrition aspects.