States to look for malnourished kids

GOVT’S NEW guidelines aim to improve nutritional status of children and women.

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Delhi, Jan. 24: Identifying severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in children and their referral to hospitals, using AYUSH concepts and monitoring through ‘Poshan Tracker’ are among highlights of the government’s new guidelines which aim to improve nutritional status of children and women in the country.

In a letter to all states and UTs, the women and child development ministry asked all chief secretaries to launch a drive for identification of severe acute malnutrition in children for referral to hospitals, if required, and AYUSH centres and complete this exercise by January 31.

“The states shall launch a drive for identification of SAM children for referral to hospitals (if required) and AYUSH centres in accordance with the detailed action plan approved by the district nutrition committee to be finalised in consultation with the Chief Medical Officer. This exercise shall be completed by January 31, 2021,” the ministry said. The ministry shared the guidelines and stressed on the need to ensure that entitlements of Supplementary Nutrition Programme reach the intended beneficiaries in a time-bound manner as per quantity and nutritional standards.

The ministry said it has streamlined guidelines on quality assurance, roles and responsibilities of duty holders, procedure for procurement, integrating AYUSH concepts and data management and monitoring through ‘Poshan Tracker’ for transparency, efficiency and accountability in delivery of supplementary nutrition.

The ministry has asked all states to mandatorily implement Poshan Tracker that uses centralised data architecture to align with digital technology systems of other ministries and programmes.