Despite COVID-19, Maharashtra sees drop in number of severe acute malnourished children

Mumbai: There has been a drop in the number of severe acute malnourished (SAM) children in Maharashtra between 2019 and 2021, the feat getting achieved despite the COVID-19 pandemic and the hardships it brought about.

In a written answer given in the Maharashtra Legislative Council, Woman and Child Development Minister Yashomati Thakur said there were 95,978 severe acute malnourished children in the state in December 2019, which came down to 89,151 in 2020 and further to 81,904 by December last year.

"The Maharashtra government had carried out a special drive in August 2021 to identify moderate acute and severe acute malnourished children in the 6-month to the 6-year-old segment. We found 97,876 children in MAM and 16,914 in SAM categories," she said.

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The minister informed that 1,578 of 18,914 children were admitted in nutrition rehabilitation centres as they were suffering critical illness due to malnourishment.

In December last year, a Maharashtra minister has told the state Legislative Council that more than 4,000 children were found suffering from acute malnutrition in Mumbai, the financial capital of the country, this year till August. Women and Child Development Minister Yashomati Thakur gave this information in the Upper House of the state legislature on Thursday while responding to a question asked by Congress MLC Bhai Jagtap.