KALABURAGI: While there is a raging debate over providing eggs to school-going children in mid-day meals, the consumption of egg, milk and banana has improved the nutrition level of malnourished children from six months to six years enrolled in Anganwadis in five districts of the Kalyana Karnataka region, shows surveys conducted by the Women and Children Welfare Department in September and November.
Highly-placed sources from the Department told TNIE, “After coming to know that the nutritional level among children enrolled in Bidar, Kalaburagi, Yadgir, Raichur and Koppal districts of Kalyana Karnataka region is low compared to other districts of Karnataka, the department conducted a survey in September to find out the number of normal children, children with moderate malnourishment and those with severe malnutrition in the age group of six months to six years in Anganwadis by weighing them.”
Koppal district has most malnourished kids in Karnataka
The survey was repeated in the last week of November and it revealed considerable improvement among children. Though there was an improvement in all categories of nutrition levels (normal, moderate underweight and severe malnourished) in all the districts of the state, it was still low in Kalaburagi, Yadgir, Raichur, Koppal and Ballari districts of KK region.
The number of moderately malnourished children which was 32,300 (7.65 per cent) in September fell to 30,3784 (7.14 per cent) in November. While in the case of severely malnourished children, the fall is from 8,028 (0.19 per cent) to 6,874 (0.16 per cent). But the number of moderately underweight and severely underweight children continues to be high in five out of six districts of Kalyana Karnataka region as compared to other districts, the sources said.
While the state average for moderately malnourished children is 7.14 per cent, in six districts of Kalyana Karnataka, it is 12.2 per cent. The state average of severely malnourished children is 0.16 per cent (6,874 children), while in Kalyana Karnataka it is 0.24 per cent (2,906 children).
Koppal district has the highest number of severely underweight children in the State at 0.35 per cent, followed by Kalaburagi at 0.32 per cent, Yadgir 0.27 per cent, Raichur 0.23 per cent, Ballari 0.20 per cent and Bidar 0.08 per cent. Chikkamagaluru district has the third highest number of severely underweight children at 0.29 per cent. Koppal district has the highest moderately malnourished children at 15.21 per cent, followed by Raichur at 14.98 per cent, Yadgir 13.29 per cent, Kalaburagi 11.15 per cent, Ballari 10.51 per cent and Bidar 8.56 per cent.
Apart from providing egg, milk and banana, severely malnourished children are being treated at Nutrition Rehabilitation Centres (NRCs) of Health and Family Welfare Department which has helped in improving the nutritional level among children, the sources claimed.