A Study on "Village Child Development Center (VCDC)" and its Role in Redressing Malnutrition Problem in Gadchiroli District, Maharashtra, India

To assess the instrumentality of VCDC (Village child development center) in improving malnutrition problem in Gadchiroli district.

Village child development center is a unique health intervention to address malnutrition problem in the district and is operational since 2010. The district health office receives routine performance report of each VCDC from the peripheral units. It is analyzed at district level and feedback is being given to each unit. The present study is based on the analysis of the data collected at district health office from each peripheral unit wherever VCDC used to happen. In this study data of six months (July 2011 to December 2011) have been used.

The study used data of six months from July 2011 to December 2011 for analysis. During these six months 13584 children have been admitted to 2271 VCDCs organized at various Anganwadi centers of the district and 10439 malnourished children gained improvement. Again 1828 severely acute malnourished (SAM) children were converted to moderately acute malnourished (MAM) children, 7677 moderately acute malnourished children regained their normalcy and 934 severely acute malnourished children regained their normalcy.

Out of total severely and moderately acute malnourished children admitted to VCDC 76% got improved in total but still the individual indicators show a piteous picture and needs special emphasis. Simple and cost effective interventions like VCDC is definitely of great help in tribal districts like Gadchiroli to reduce malnutrition problem.