Committed to work with MP govt to reach children most effectively: UNICEF India chief

Senior Correspondent

NewsBits.in

BHOPAL: UNICEF India Representative Cynthia McCaffrey has said that that the UNICEF is committed to work with the government of Madhya Pradesh to reach children most effectively.

McCaffrey said this while talking to the NewsBits.in after her meeting with chief minister Mohan Yadav on the second and last day of her two-day visit to Madhya Pradesh on Thursday, June 20.

The UNICEF India chief said that her meeting with chief minister Mohan Yadav went ‘very well’ for three reasons:

“First – it was an illustration of strong partnership that UNICEF has with GoMP – it was a discussion around what they are doing for children but what more they want to do for children. That the CM took out time from a very busy schedule to talk about this actually shows the commitment.”

“Second – we are being challenged how can we work together to make sure that we are reaching the children most effectively. During the discussions, the CM genuinely said that we are looking at the children’s health and survival but we also want to make them thrive. Most important thing that emerged from the meeting was the CM showing commitment that he wanted to determine with his departments how do drive for more results for children and continue to improve their healthy start in life so that they are strong in their health and nutrition and then they are ready to learn and be future citizen of MP.”

“The third important point the CM made was about really driving the GoMP for implementing the plans of action.”

McCaffrey also met the deputy chief minister Rajendra Shukla. She said that the deputy CM spoke about leaving no stone unturned. “He spoke on how to learn lessons apply lessons and have impact. The focal point was how do we have strongest start for the babies and also make sure it is sustained.

She also said that UNICEF India has 13 field offices and MP was one of the key places where UNICEF was learning with and from government of India. “It was a genuine opportunity to see a little bit of our work in Bhopal which is illustrative of what we are doing in Madhya Pradesh and to talk to our partners,” she said.

 ‘More Maternal Neonatal Care Units on the anvil’

McCaffrey told NewsBits.in that the government of MP was looking at how to improve health and survival of children and mothers. “They have been looking at the rates of under five mortality (of children) and maternal mortality and that’s where the maternal neonatal care units (MNCUs) have come in,” she said.

“It’s an innovation that MP is doing, other states are doing too, building on success of special newborn care units (SNCUs) where it says that if the child is premature and underweight and needs some medical support, the MNCU is making sure that the mother is with the child during such vulnerable period,” she added.

MNCUs have been established at the Hamidia Hospital and the Katju Hospital in Bhopal recently and are the first of such units in Madhya Pradesh. UNICEF is supporting setting up of these units in four states (Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradsh, Bihar and Odisha) and MP is among the first states to get them operational.

McCaffrey, who visited the MNCU at Hamidia Hospital – said that this innovation is helping to build evidence that when the baby and mother are together you can help accelerate baby’s stability and growth and you can help the mother build confidence in caring for the baby and impart addition knowledge to the mother for when she goes home.

“The MNCU is just the beginning. You stabilize the child they keep the child until it is healthy enough to go home and meanwhile the mother has gathered knowledge about exclusive breastfeeding, playing and stimulating the child and that kangaroo care goes a long way if having skin to skin contact with the baby.”

“That is an example that MP knows and wants to improve its child and newborn and maternal survival. I think this is an innovation that is working and they are now looking at the ways to scale it up. The officials at the Hamidia MNCU shared with me that they now have evidence that the initiative to keep the vulnerable newborn and mother together indeed works. Now they have a plan to establish additional 25 such units across Madhya Pradesh,” she said.

She further said “The hypothesis they wanted to check was whether having the mother in and out causes more exposure of germs and thus contamination for a vulnerable child and puts it to more risk. But they found that it is not the case, which is very heartening. Babies are being fed breast milk that is the best medicine and just seeing the mother hold the child is the best thing about it.”

‘Quality of water accessed by citizens most important’

McCaffrey visited the microbial water quality testing unit of Government of Madhya Pradesh under the Jal Jeevan Mission in Bhopal. Speaking about the visit, she said “Another important element that I am learning with and from Madhya Pradesh is that they are not only about reaching numbers – more and more households are being provided potable water and water points and community has better access to water. But what the water quality testing unit showed me that MP is taking a hard look at how to make sure it is quality water.

“They have a system that UNICEF is supporting with technical assistance to make sure how to test for the right things in a timely way. The important lesson is that while it is important to reach – want to reach the hardest to reach - but at the same time we ensure the quality of the water supplied.”

'Focus on first 1000 days of children’s lives'

As for future focus, she spoke about renewed energy to really emphasize on the first 1000 days of children’s life and not get distracted. Nothing is more important than the first 1000 days of a child’s life with focus on health, nutrition and stimulation,”

“What we would like to do with the government is to really double down and emphasize on the things that work – for example the strengthening the early system around child’s health including immunization, healthy and early nutrition. For those children who are struggling, having the strong support through the frontline health workers like anganwadi workers who might identify children who need extra care,” the UNICEF India chief said.

During her meeting with CM Yadav, McCaffrey presented him with the spatial plans developed by students of the School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal with UNICEF’s support.

During the courtesy meeting, Secretary and Commissioner of Public Relations Dr. Sudam Khade, UNICEF Chief of Field Office Madhya Pradesh (a.i.) Anil Gulati, nutrition expert Pushpa Awasthi and nutrition officer Dr Suresh Parmar were also present.