Regional meetings are organized for consultants, and State level meetings are organized for advisers to review and continuously monitor the progress of the work. The monthly monitoring system has evolved with a flow from Anganwadis to the apex at the State level and Centre. The training programme has been expanded with greater emphasis on continuous education of the field workers, creating awareness among administrators, voluntary organizations, and the people. A new component of research has been added through a selective group of consultants who will be able to provide answers for pressing questions raised from time to time by the Social Welfare Department, the Planning Commission, and others. The Ministry of Social Welfare, through its apex institution known as the National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development, has been responsible for organizing the training of ICDS staff working as Anganwadi workers, Mukhya Sevikas, and Child Development Project Officers.
Severe malnutrition is a serious, life-threatening condition for children.
Very high death rates have been reported among such children if they are left untreated for a long time or taken to the hospital in very late stages of their illness. Readily available services at Anganwadis in their own villages improved the prognosis for these children. A follow-up of more than 4,000 severely malnourished children by our consultants at the Anganwadi centres revealed an overall fatality of only 3 per cent after treatment by Anganwadi workers and a significant improvement in the nutritional status of about 46.5 per cent of the children. Diarrhoea, fever, and respiratory infections were the main diseases associated with severe malnutrition, and could be treated satisfactorily at the Anganwadi centre in the majority of cases by the workers. There are also several research studies by individual consultants that have demonstrated a decrease in the infant mortality rate, an increase in birth weight, and improvement in nutritional and health status of pregnant women in ICDS project areas.