3 simple practices are key to improving children’s’ nutrition

Bringing attention to simple but critical Infant and Young Child Feeding practices to improve child undernutrition, UNICEF, together with the Government of Odisha, jointly organized a state media roundtable here today. The three essential practices are: Early initiation of breastfeeding, Exclusive breastfeeding and Complementary foods and feeding.

Setting the context for the roundtable, Saurav Bhattacharjee, Nutrition Specialist of UNICEF Odisha, said, “Odisha has made substantial progress in reduction of stunting. To bring about further reduction in undernutrition and thereby under-five mortality, sustained communication efforts for improving Infant & Young Child Feeding (IYCF) practices at the family and community levels are essential.”
Research shows that 19% of under-five mortality can be reduced by adopting three IYCF practices- Early Initiation of breastfeeding within one hour, exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life and timely introduction of appropriate and adequate complementary food from 6-9 month of age, he added.

Speaking at the media roundtable, Dr. Lingaraj Mishra, MD, Director, Department of Health & Family Welfare, GoO, said, ” After 6 months of age, the child needs more nutrition to grow mentally and physically. If right complementary food in right quantities and right frequency along with breastfeeding is not given, then there are high chances of the child slipping into undernutrition. “Regular counselling of parents and caregivers by community influencers and frontline functionaries is essential,” he added.

Only 50 per cent of children aged 6-8 months are given complementary food globally. According to NFHS-4, the national average of inclusion of complementary feeding between 6-8 months is 42.7% while in Odisha 55% children are being introduced to this practice. The State Government has taken many initiatives to improve infant & Young Child feeding practices that include setting up Nutrition Rehabilitation Centers (NRCs), facilitating Infant Milk Substitute (IMS) Act Implementation and implementing programmes like Mother Absolute Affection (MAA).