With a view to bringing people from extreme poor families out from the vicious circle of malnutrition, the Rajshahi City Corporation has undertaken health and nutritional support programme.
The three-year scheme is being implemented since October, 2012 at a cost of around Tk40.12 crore in order to substantial reduction of uterine physical and mental disabilities besides supplementing the national efforts to prevent maternal and infant death.
Slum people in the city mainly faces various types of nutritional problems, including protein energy malnutrition, vitamin A deficiency, iodine deficiency disorder, iron deficiency anemia and low birth weight.
Ajahar Ali, chief executive officer of the Rajshahi City Corporation (RCC), said the nutrition programme is being implemented as a component of Urban Partnership for Poverty Reduction Project.
Local Government Engineering Department has been implementing the UPPRP in association with UNDP and financial and technical supports from UKaid and UNHabitat with the main thrust of improving the living and livelihood condition of around two and half lakh poor and extreme poor people, especially women and girls, in the city.
The nutrition component intends to improve the nutritional status of children, pregnant and breastfeeding women and adolescent girls of the project targeted households as the highest rate of malnutrition has been found among children living in the slums of the city.
Mahbubul Alam, Town Manager of Urban Partnership for Poverty Reduction Project, said the component had arranged necessary counseling for 250 pregnant women and 1,280 breast feeding mothers, group meetings for 3,500 adolescents and courtyard meeting for 46,000 family members and 2,000 children discussing and highlighting significance of the aforesaid issues.
Referring to various research findings he mentioned that prevalence of malnutrition in slum areas is among the highest in the city. Many of children and women suffer from one or more forms of malnutrition including low birth weight, wasting, stunting, underweight, vitamin A deficiency, iodine deficiency disorder and anemia.
To address the problems, the target groups received direct nutrition and its related products like 5,15,460 Iron and Folic Acid tablets, 1,00,800 de-worming tablets and 40,515 dose suspension and 72,174 packet micronutrient powder.
As the schoolboys and girls are the most vulnerable to worm infection, the project component is putting emphasis on making them aware about health hygiene and using sanitary latrine together with proper hand washing before taking every meal.
