SCoE Network Meeting

National Centre of Excellence (NCoE), Lady Hardinge Medical College (LHMC) & associated Kalawati Saran Children’s Hospital (KSCH), New Delhi with support of UNICEF organised two days SCoE-SAM Network Meeting on 27th & 28th February 2019 at Hotel Visaya, New Delhi was chaired by Mr. Arjan De Wagt Chief, Child Development and Nutrition, UNICEF, India, Dr Virendra Kumar Director Professor & HOD, Pediatrics, KSCH, Dr Abner Daniel, Nutrition Specialist, UNICEF and Dr. Praveen Kumar, Director Professor, Pediatrics, KSCH.

The aim of the meeting was to highlight the common challenges in SAM management and the action points to improve the quality of care provided in different SAM management units. Mr. Arjan De Wagt quoted that “No time to waste and no child to die of malnutrition”. He also emphasized that there is a strong need for strengthening care of Under six-month infants (U6M) and Low Birth Weight children. A total of 41 experts/consultants from Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Telangana and State UNICEF Nutrition teams were invited to discuss Role of Centre of Excellence (CoE) in nutrition programmes; Sharing the Experience of Managing children with SAM outside NRCs; Findings of Supportive Supervision of 9 state NRCs (Jharkhand, Gujarat, Bihar, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka); Strengthening Care on Management of U6M Infants. Maternal Nutrition Package; Sensory Stimulation & Structured Play; Sharing of Planned Activities for Improving Quality of Care in NRC of different States (SCoE- Jodhpur, Udaipur, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Bangalore, Maharashtra, and Odisha & Collaborative multicentre research studies related to Management of SAM were presented and discussed. The way forward of the meeting was to support the states in research, monitoring & evaluation, support in implementation of CMAM, strengthen the care of U6M, implementation of structured play therapy, maternal nutrition and care outside NRCs.