Study of impact of nutrition & health day strategy on the coverage rates of supplementary nutrition and health interventions among the ICDS beneficiaries in a rural block of Madhya Pradesh

Abstract

To study the trends of beneficiary coverage (pregnant and lactating women and children less than two years of age) for utilization of supplementary nutrition and health services in a rural block before and after the launch of a strategy to converge Health & Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) on a single day christened "Nutrition and Health Day" (NHD). It is a before and after intervention design in rural ICDS block Amarwada in district Chhindwada. As a part of intervention, NHD were organised on which convergent services of Health & ICDS were made available to the beneficiaries. On the weekly NHDs, uncooked supplementary nutrition for the week was distributed to pregnant and lactating mothers and children under two. The Health worker visited the Anganwadi Centre (AWC) and immunized children and pregnant women, distributed IFA, Vitamin A and provided health and nutrition education. The study assessed the impact of these interventions on the coverage rates of the services. Study was conducted between May 97 and March 98. The routine monitoring reports of the ICDS and Health System of the state government were used as study tools. The study sample comprised of AWC beneficiaries in the project area. The total population of the block was 89,476. Participation in the supplementary nutrition program (SNP) increased two to three folds in all categories of the target population. Immunization and Vitamin A coverage levels for children also showed an increase of about 3 and 5-8 times from baseline status respectively in a year's time. Among pregnant women, Tetanus Toxoid (TT) and Iron and Folic Acid (IFA) utilization rates have also shown two and five fold increase respectively.