Stakeholder meeting held on 2nd July 2024 between Hon. Director AIIMS Raipur and UNICEF Chief conducted under SCoE4N , Department of Pediatrics, AIIMS Raipur.

A stakeholder meeting was held on 2nd July 2024 at Director Office, AIIMS Raipur. Lt Gen Ashok Jindal (Retd.), Executive Director & CEO, AIIMS Raipur met Chief (In-Charge) of UNICEF Chhattisgarh office, Mr. William Hanlon Jr alongside Dr. Anil Kumar Goel, Program Director & HOD Pediatrics, AIIMS Raipur, Dr. Aparna Deshpande, Nutrition Specialist, UNICEF Raipur, and Dr. Mahendra Prajapati, Nutrition Officer, UNICEF Raipur. The meeting was aimed to discuss the progress of the State Center of Excellence for Nutrition Interventions (SCoE4N) established under Department of Pediatrics, AIIMS Raipur and scope of further collaboration and way forward was discussed. Mr. William has appreciated the ongoing implementation of Community Based Management of Severe Acute Malnutrition (CSAM) by Department of Women and Child Development and Department of Health and Family welfare, Government of Chhattisgarh, aptly led and supported by SCoE4N-AIIMS Raipur with support of UNICEF Chhattisgarh. The innovative practices of NRC Telemonitoring and IYCF tele mentoring initiated by SCOE4N were also acknowledged. In the past year (2023) the center has completed Tele-monitoring of 106 Nutrition Rehabilitation Centers (NRCS) and Tele-mentoring on Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) of counsellors from 57 state government run health facilities. District level Project team supported the monitoring of more than 1100 AWCs and supported Department of Woman and Child Development in training more than 22,000 AWWs on Poshan Tracker and CSAM. Measuring Efficiency (for 22.5 Lac children) in the Poshan Tracker improved from 16% in January 2023 to 95% in December 2023. Team could also support the enrollment of more than 14,000 SAM and MAM children in CSAM programme, which was started with 208 enrollments in January 2023. Mr William also visited the IYCF Skill lab and SMART Unit (Severe Acute Malnutrition Referral & Advance Treatment) of SCoE4N, meant for management of severely complicated SAM Children, where he interacted with the team members and observed the work firsthand with much zeal. He has also been through the research and knowledge management work initiated in the area of malnutrition reduction by SCOE4N. With mutual agreement of both the heads Dr Jindal and Mr. William, it was decided that the holistic model of SCoE4N and its functioning will be disseminated with ministry and with other states attempting to curtail malnutrition. It is envisioned to organize a national level conference on CSAM to garner enthusiasm from stakeholders and representatives across all states of the country. It was discussed that findings from the current project should reach those working in the same direction which will act as template for replication and will prevent reinventing the wheel.