self-help: Health self help groups to tackle child mortality

Amravati (Maharashtra): Faced with shortage of trained personnel to tackle malnutrition in Melghat area of the district, the administration has deployed Health Self Help Groups (HSHGs) to assist regular medical staff in preventing neo-natal and infant mortality in the area. "Twenty-five HSHGs are being set up in each `aanganwadi' area comprising five to ten women in each group," Amaravati Divisional Commissioner, S K Goyal told PTI. These groups will carry out most of the preliminary work before the children are medically examined by the staff. These women would be community volunteers and willing to do the social work, he said. The authorities have drawn a ten-point programme which include registration of pregnant women, medical check-up of 0-6 year-old child on a regular basis and assistance to women after delivery of child by `dai' (a type of midwife). Goyal, however, refused to attribute higher number of deaths of children to malnutrition in the Melghat area. He was evasive on actual figurues but claimed it was below the state and national average. However, sources, quoting unofficial figures, said 612 children have died between March to February this year due to malnutrition.