Young Child Undernutrition: Crucial to Prioritize Nutrition Interventions in the First 1000 Days of Life.

The implications of young childhood undernutrition on health, development and productivity are grave. In the last two decades, global and Indian studies on undernutrition in under five years have concluded that stunting and underweight rate increases steadily between 0-24 mo, and then stabilises. The available evidence highlights the significance of concentrating interventions to tackle child undernutrition in the first 1000 d of life, which should aim at universal coverage of essential nutrition interventions (ENIs) and maternal-child health care package comprising maternal nutrition care, adoption of appropriate infant and young child feeding practices (IYCF), iron-folic acid supplementation, immunization, deworming, appropriate management of childhood illness etc.

Establishment of cross-cradle hold technique combined with intensive breastfeeding counselling positively impacts the weight gain rate in early infancy.

A quasiexperimental field study was undertaken in 576 exclusively breastfed (EBF) infants from 0 to 14 weeks in Gujarat, India to assess the effect of the use of appropriate breastfeeding techniques on daily weight gain rate and on reducing the underweight rate in early infancy. The interventions were delivered through the existing health system and focused primarily on counselling pregnant women during antenatal and post-natal sessions for ensuring 'effective breastfeeding' by adoption of the technique of 'cross cradle hold', appropriate breast attachment, emptying of one breast before shifting to the other along with conducting regular monitoring of infant's weight. The intervention care group (ICG) of 300 EBF infants were compared with 276 EBF infants in the control standard care group (SCG).

Anaemia in Indians aged 10-19 years: Prevalence, burden and associated factors at national and regional levels.

Anaemia control programmes in India are hampered by a lack of representative evidence on anaemia prevalence, burden and associated factors for adolescents. The aim of this study was to: (1) describe the national and subnational prevalence, severity and burden of anaemia among Indian adolescents; (2) examine factors associated with anaemia at national and regional levels. Data (n = 14,673 individuals aged 10-19 years) were from India's Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (CNNS, 2016-2018).

Improving women's nutrition imperative for rapid reduction of childhood stunting in South Asia: coupling of nutrition specific interventions with nutrition sensitive measures essential.

The implications of direct nutrition interventions on women's nutrition, birth outcome and stunting rates in children in South Asia are indisputable and well documented. In the last decade, a number of studies present evidence of the role of non-nutritional factors impacting on women's nutrition, birth outcome, caring practices and nutritional status of children. The implications of various dimensions of women's empowerment and gender inequality on child stunting is being increasingly recognised.

Impact of community-based mitanin programme on undernutrition in rural Chhattisgarh State, India.

Background: Community health workers known as mitanins undertook family-level counseling and mobilized the community to improve coverage of maternal and child health services in the state of Chhattisgarh, India. The Nutrition Security Innovation (NSI) project was launched in selected blocks with additional inputs for promoting appropriate complementary feeding practices and disseminating information on Public Distribution System (PDS) entitlement. Within 3 years of project implementation, all NSI inputs in the project group (PG) were scaled up in the entire state.

Community based maternal and child health nutrition project, uttar pradesh: an innovative strategy focusing on "at risk" families.

Research Question: Use of community based volunteers, frequently reaching and counseling a selected group of prioritized families, can make a substantial difference in improving maternal and child care practices and in reducing child undernutrition.

Setting: Program Rural Uttar Pradesh, India.

Study Design: A comparison of baseline and endline surveys following 4 years of community based project intervention.

Weekly iron and folic acid supplementation with counseling reduces anemia in adolescent girls: a large-scale effectiveness study in Uttar Pradesh, India.

Background: Weekly iron-folic acid supplementation in small-scale research trials and as administered in institutions has been demonstrated to be effective in reducing anemia in adolescent girls.

Objective: To assess the effectiveness of weekly iron-folic acid supplementation in a large-scale project in reducing the prevalence of anemia in adolescent girls.

Methods: The project provided weekly iron-folic acid tablets, family life education, and deworming tablets every 6 months to 150,700 adolescent school girls and non-schoolgirls of a total district population of 3,647,834.

Reaching the goal of Universal Salt Iodization (USI): experience of Uttar Pradesh, India.

Background: In 2002, the percentage of households consuming iodized salt in the state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) in India dropped to as low as 6%. This implied that 3.5 million newborns in this non-salt producing state, with 180 million population, were at risk of brain damage unless universal accessibility and consumption of iodized salt was ensured and sustained.

Current status of iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) and strategy for its control in India.

Iodine Deficiency Disorders (IDD) reflects the broad manifestations of iodine deficiency including the implications on reproductive functions and lowering of IQ levels in school aged children. Today, IDD is a public health problem in 130 countries and affects 13% of world's population. In India, no state is free from iodine deficiency and 200 million people are 'at risk' of IDD.