Keeping in view the possible third wave of Covid 19, and the fear that this time round children could be its main target, the Nagaur district of Rajasthan has started taking pre-emptive measures.

It is speculated that the third wave would brutally impact children with weak immunity. To build immunity, good nutrition is required. This has prompted the authorities to kick-start ‘Ladesar’ campaign in Nagaur district of Rajasthan. The word ladesar stands for little ones. The brain behind this noble initiative is   the District Collector Dr. Jitendra Kumar Soni. 

In a conversation with Indian Masterminds, Dr Soni said, “ Poor nutrition leads to weak health & immunity. It is the reason behind every illness, and covid is not different. If we want to win the battle against this disease, boosting the immunity is our only weapon. Since kids are speculated to be most affected in the third wave, we need to focus on their nutrition to keep them safe from the virus. Besides that, fighting malnutrition is also one of Sustainable Development Goals by United Nation. So, our team has started ‘Ladesar’ to fight malnourishment in the kids”. 

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Health screening of children

The motive behind the ‘Ladesar’ campaign is to keep the little ones healthy and safe. So Mr. Soni’s team has been working on a plan which mainly included two steps. Firstly, to identify the children who are malnourished or the adolescent girls who are anemic. And then to aid them with proper food, so that they become healthy. 

It may sound easy but it wasn’t easy to implement. Therefore, to achieve its objectives, Dr Soni’s team roped in medical & health officers, education department and Integrated Child Development officers to carry out the campaign.

Around 3300 team-members at Aganwadi level was formed for health and nutrition screening of the children. To coordinate between the teams and the district administration, Mr. Durga Singh Udawat, who is a Child Development Project Officer in Nagaur, was appointed as the nodal officer for the campaign. 

“After the formation of team, a video conference was organized for the members’ training. We could not meet personally due to the pandemic. Our collector chaired the whole session virtually, in which the team members were trained about how to measure the health status of children as well as the reporting system. Each different team was headed by the Gram Panchayat level officer who is generally the principle of secondary or senior secondary school”, said Mr. Singh. 

Before the screening, the administration also ensured that every team was loaded with proper equipment to measure the health status like the weighing scale, mid-upper arm circumference tape and hemoglobin meter. Various people came forward to donate the equipment required for these.

More than eight lakh kids screened 

The door-to -door screening started on 27^th May 2021 and went till 21^st June 2021. During this period around 8.5 lakh children were tested in which 2049 anemic girls were identified. 4010 children were found to be in malnourished category and 144 were in danger zone. The last group of children was immediately sent to the Nutritional Rehabilitation Centre in Nagaur. 

After identifying the kids with poor immunization came the second step of the campaign. “We had to work for the proper nutrition. With the suggestion from the child specialist and nutritionists,  a ‘Ladesar Potion (nutrition) kit’ was made which included four types of lentils & rice for ‘khichdi’ and soyabeans, jaggery, soaked black chickpeas and peanuts for snacking. We provided this to every guardian whose children were identified and told them to give this food to them for one month. We also ensured that only the children in need were getting the food. Along with the kit, we also provided vitamin and iron folic acid tablets to the anemic girls”, said Mr. Singh. 

All the block level officers like SDMs and BDOs not only just cross-checked the screened children but also ensuring that they were getting proper food. The district collector has also ordered for `three time follow-up’ to ensure that all the children are healthy. First phase of follow-up was conducted between 1^st to 7^th July and other two will be conducted in the first week of August and September. 

Promising results of the `Ladesar’ campaign emerged after the first follow-up. As many 315 girls have recovered properly from anemia and 687 children out of 4010 malnourished are in healthy category. Twelve out of 144 in the danger zone have also recovered fully while 79 have now moved to less-dangerous yellow zone in nourishment category. 

The district administration is hopeful that the all children of Nagaur will be soon healthy enough to ward off the deadly virus.