Recent Study to Evaluate the Intervention being Provided by AWCs Regarding Breastfeeding, Weaning and Child Diet in District Budgam of Kashmir Region (J&K) (Based on Beneficiary Responses)

This study was undertaken to evaluate a response regarding the intervention being provided by
Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) in District Budgam. The study was conducted in 60
Anganwadi Centers (AWCs) and the beneficiaries included three registered groups viz., Pregnant
Women (PW), Nursing Mothers (NM), and mothers of child beneficiaries (MCB) having children in the
age group 0-3 years - 4 beneficiaries were selected from each AWC. Since India’s 66% of the total
population comprises of mother and children who are also the foremost patrons of health services
hence they are the “priority,” “special risk” and “vulnerable group.” and therefore explicit programmes
for augmenting maternal and child health have been in place since the early fifties in India. These
AWCs serve the purpose and are assumed to provide pre-school education on one hand and
breaking vicious cycle of malnutrition, morbidity and mortality on the other hand. By instructing women
beneficiaries and also providing supplementary nutrition. Keeping in view the above aspects and also
to evaluate the intervention being provided by Anganwadi centers this study was planned and
designed accordingly. Results obtained indicate that inadequate intervention is being provided
regarding most of the aspects of breastfeeding with 86% denying the intervention regarding initiation
of breastfeeding and 96% said no awareness regarding frequency of breastfeeding is provided in
AWCs and 97% reporting no intervention regarding importance of balanced diet for children, although
some of the blocks are better in providing information regarding some aspects while as others are
lacking the ability to improve the knowledge of their beneficiaries regarding various parameters under
study, which needs to be further taken care of through, advanced interventions by involving
Anganwadi centres and medical department for the safety and health of our children. All the results
were obtained by using Chi-square analysis and by comparing the responses of beneficiaries and
AWWs (Anganwadi workers) across the blocks.