10 March 2010
In Barwani, a remote district of Madhya Pradesh, the writing on the wall of the Anganwadi is not graffiti. It lists:
- the money allocated for nutrition services in the community
- the range of services which should be provided by the centre
- when the centre should open
- what supplements children should receive.
Until DFID funded a community mobilisation programme, services at the Anganwadi (nutrition centres for 0-6 year-olds) were not being delivered. Now the population is visibly holding the government to account for what they have promised to provide.
The centre is up and running with children regularly attending the nutrition clinic to be weighed. And now families are gvien advice on caring for their young including the benefits of breast feeding, good hygiene and nutrition.
Madhya Pradesh, a state in the heart of India, has a population the size of the UK.
Sixty per cent of children under 5 in the state are malnourished. DFID is working with the state government to improve poor people’s health. DFID India has supported the government for the past two years (£70 million to 2012) to deliver health and nutrition services.
View the complete set of our images on undernutrition in Madhya Pradesh on Flickr.
