2,500 Thane health workers to help fight malnutrition

Thane: The drive against malnutrition in chief minister Eknath Shinde’s district has gained traction with the administration now entrusting each of the 2,500 Thane health workers with the responsibility of daily monitoring of a newborn, a six-month-old baby and a pregnant mother as part of the special module designed for the purpose by IIT-Bombay experts, officials informed.

The first phase of the programme designed by IIT Bombay experts for the Thane Zilla Parishad was flagged off last week wherein 3,500 health workers appeared for a test of which 2,500 selected to implement the ambitious project to reduce malnutrition cases in the district. Malnutrition cases, including severe acute malnutrition (SAM) and moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) categories, more than doubled in the last five years.

“As per our specialised training programme by IIT Bombay experts, health workers who are in direct contact with pregnant mothers and babies in their respective areas have been trained in theory in identifying malnutrition cases. The field experience gained by the health workers till now has been complemented with the research of IIT experts and a module developed,” said Manuj Jindal, CEO, Thane Zilla Parishad.

Dr Rupal Dalal, paediatrician and associate professor (adjunct), Centre for Technology Alternatives for Rural Areas (CTARA), said, “The entire programme is digitised wherein the health workers and our experts will get an instant update of the situation along with solutions to be offered. For example not many mothers are aware that babies are being wrongly positioned while breast feeding.” She said the female workers will notice how the mothers feed their babies and recommend changes, if required, based on “our research to optimise the feed.”