12/30/2010 UNICEF India - Nutrition

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Nutrition Bihar launches ICDS-IV Search:

Priyanka Khanna
UNIC EF in action
In a move slated to have Email this article
Real lives extensive impact on the
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Bihar, the State Government
Interns' field work launched a new phase of the
Integrated C hild Development
Services (IC DS) Programme at
© UNIC EF/2008 a two-day workshop that
commenced on March 25, 2008
Bihar has the third highe st
num be r of m alnourishe d childre n
in Patna. IC DS was launched in
in India. India in 1975 and is today one
of the world’s largest child
welfare programmes providing pre-school education on one hand
and reducing malnutrition, morbidity, and mortality, on the other.
The workshop’s objective was to prepare the Project
Implementation Plan for the implementation of the new
Programme.

The rationale for the changed

Termed as ‘ICDS-IV’,
Programme is to improve the outreach
this new phase of the
and quality of service delivery, Programme aims to
strengthen institutional framework and strengthen and
need-based training of IC DS improve its efficacy by
enhanced targeting in
functionaries, and ensure increased
districts with high
involvement of local communities as child malnutrition.
key stakeholders.

The inauguration of the two-day workshop was attended by Mr.

Vijoy Prakash, Principal Secretary, Department of Social Welfare,
Government of Bihar, Mr. K. Rajeswara Rao, Project Director,
Ministry of Women and C hild Development, Mr. Udai Singh
Kumawat, Project Director, IC DS-Bihar and representatives from
the World Bank and UNIC EF.

Outlining the nationwide initiative, Mr. K. Rajeswara Rao remarked,

“With the initiation of the planning process today, Bihar has become
one of the eight states in the country where Phase IV of IC DS will
be implemented over the next five years. Besides Bihar, the other
states are Andhra Pradesh, C hhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya
Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.”

Speaking at the inauguration, Mr. Vijoy Prakash announced that 19

districts in Bihar had been selected for the implementation of IC DS-
IV. He also stated that the UNIC EF-initiated Dular strategy will be
scaled up across the State and will complement the IC DS
Programme.

Elaborating on the status of

child malnutrition in Bihar, Mr.
Bijaya Rajbhandari, State
Representative, UNIC EF
emphasised, “Bihar has the
third highest number of
malnourished children in India.
In Bihar, the percentage of

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12/30/2010 UNICEF India - Nutrition
© UNIC EF/2008
IC DS-IV will he lp acce le rate the
Sta te ’s e fforts to re duce
m alnutrition rate s.
underweight children went up
from 54.3 per cent to 58.4 per
cent between the period 1999
and 2005. It is estimated that
8.33 per cent or 9,74,610
children in Bihar are severely
and acutely malnourished and
are at the highest risk of dying.
However, we know what works.
We are hopeful that IC DS-IV
will help accelerate the State’s
efforts to reduce malnutrition
rates.”

The strategies proposed under IC DS-IV

are expected to contribute towards
India’s progress on achieving the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) that include the nutrition goal of halving underweight rates
from 54 per cent to 27 per cent between the period 1990 and 2015.

This will accelerate India’s advance on realising the MDG of

universal primary education and the Education for All that aims to
expand and improve comprehensive early childhood care and
education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged
children, thereby reducing infant and child mortality, and
consequently improving maternal health outcomes.

IC DS-IV will help to significantly expand utilisation of nutrition

services with increased awareness and adoption of appropriate
feeding and caring behaviour by parents of children less than three
years. This is also expected to enhance the overall nutritional status
of children and improve early child development outcomes, in
addition to school readiness among three to six year old children in
selected high burden districts and states. Special focus on the girl
child and children from disadvantaged sections is also envisioned.

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