Anganwadis in Attappady fail to deliver

The death of 32 babies belonging to tribal communities of Attappady, the one and only tribal development block in Kerala, in a span of seven months is an indicator of how the state treats its children and marginalised communities.

According to data with the Integrated Tribal Development Project (ITDP) office, 96 infants have died in Attappady since 2007. The actual figure could be higher as the Kurumbas, one of the three tribal communities in this block, do not seem to have figured in the list. Kurumba community is one of the five particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTG) in the state. Their settlements are remote; one needs to trek kilometres to reach them. They are usually overlooked by health surveys. In spite of this, the data provided by the ITDP indicates higher number of infant deaths over the past 16 months than in previous years.
   
Poor supplementary nutrition

One major cause behind the high death toll is the poor performance of anganwadis, points out a report submitted by the ITDP office in April to the director of the state tribal welfare department. Attappady has 172 Anganwadis which are supposed to provide supplementary nutrition to children, pregnant women, lactating mothers and adolescent girls under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) project.