ACC helps in the struggle against severe child malnourishment in Lakheri
Jaipur, July 2015: ACC Limited recently joined hands with Department of Women and Child Development, the nodal Government agency implementing Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) to address the problem of malnutrition among children. The Corporate Social Responsibility team at ACC Lakheri Cement Works coordinated with ICDS to identify and help rehabilitate malnourished children through 34 Anganwadi centers in nearby ten villages.
More than 40% children in rural India under the age of five are malnourished as per survey reports released by various government and non-government agencies. Malnutrition in early childhood seriously impairs child’s health and growth, in addition to curbing social and emotional development.
During needs assessment, it was observed that there are number of gaps in the system such as lack of a proper monitoring process and shortage of weighing scales at Anganwadi centers. While ACC helped rectify these lapses it also extended support to all field functionaries to help measure and plot the status of each child in growth charts for follow up thereafter.
“This effort is an example of careful synergy with government departments for addressing a major national issue, as a result of which a sustainable system is developed to identify and treat such children” stated Mr Rajat Prusty, Director Plant, ACC Lakheri Cement Works.
This collaborative approach brought to light the nutritional status of over 500 children. The assessment showed that 66% of children under five years of age were normal while 26% were malnourished and 8% severely malnourished. ACC Lakheri provided logistical and financial support to streamline the government system and facilitate treatment of these children at the Malnutrition Treatment Centre (MTC) with support of a NGO partner. Following success of this intervention, the company is working towards identifying the next batch of severely malnourished children to be referred to the MTC.
R Nand Kumar
Vice President, Corporate Communications