Gumla is one of the tribal dominated districts of Jharkhand with more than 68% of the total population belongs Schedule Tribes. The hilly forest area with scattered population make the people more vulnerable for accessing basic facilities like: health, education, quality food and other amenities. The traditional beliefs and social norms also cumulate the sufferings/ vulnerability of the population. This has direct impact on the health & nutritional status of the people which is clearly marked from the nutritional status of the children i.e 45.8% under 5 children are suffering from chronic undernutrition (stunted) and 31.7% under 5 Children are suffering from acute undernutrition (wasted).
Village : Jamgai
Panchayat : Sarango
Block : Ghagra
District : Gumla
Jamgai is one of the interior village of Ghagra with 90 households covering a population of 600. The village is 25kms away from the block headquarter and 03 kms from the Panchayat headquarter. Most of the people depend on agriculture or allied activities to earn their livelihood. Although most of the people depends on agriculture but have marginal landholdings which have a direct impact on their life. The village is surrounded with agriculture lands & deep forest which cut this from other civilized areas of the block.
Ms. Surajmani Devi is living in a small cottage with her family members in Jamgai. She has 03 children (Boy:02 and Girl:01) earlier. On 13-07-2020 she was blessed with a twin (one baby boy and Nehapati). It was her 04th issue and the delivery was in her home. It has been seen that the birth interval was maximum 02 years in most of the issues. One among the baby was found with low birth weight (2000gms). Complications found in the baby boy immediately after birth, so she took her to the CHC. But it was died in the same day. Neha celebrated her first birth day on July-21. But her growth was not so good.
Nutrition and Child Care Session (NCCS) organized in Jamgai with help of the FLWs in the AWCs. Ms. Surajmani participated in the NCCS session during the month of August-21 wherein it is found that Neha is Acute as well as Chronic Malnourished (Severely Wasted, Stunted and underweight). Her weight was 4500gm, height was 61cm and MUAC was 11cm. This apart, from the MCP-card it was also clear that even though Neha completed 01 year still now she has not fully immunized and the micro-nutrient supplementation is also very poor.
The FLWs counseled Ms. Surajmani regarding the importance of extra care for Neha. Initially the team referred the baby to the MTC, Bishunpur but due to some household chores, she was not agreed for this. Following this, the FLWs counseled the mother on home based management (especially complementary feeding practices, dietary diversity). Special effort made for immunization and micro-nutrient supplementation. Above all the team along with the FLWs is also regularly follow-up the progress.
It has been observed that the progress is slow but the baby is in good condition. It is expected that continuous follow up and proper care can bring Neha back to the normal condition. The team is also trying to motivate the family members to admit the child in the MTC as early as possible and also motivated the mother to accept any suitable family planning method to stop child bearing or increase the birth interval.
