Assessment of Home-Based Care for Young Children through Mitanin in rural area of Chhattisgarh

Abstract

Background:
The HBYC program was launched in April 2018 by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of India. The objective of Home-Based Care for Young Children (HBYC) is to reduce child mortality and morbidity and improve nutrition status, growth, and early childhood development of young children through additional five home visits by ASHAs. In Chhattisgarh, the Rural Mitanins (ASHAs) program has been launched since 2002. Total approx. 68,000 mitanins have been trained on HBYC in the years 2019-20. Mitanins conduct a series of home visits from 3 to 15 months of age.
Methodology:
The cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted in November–December 2023. The study selected a sample representative of eligible rural households in the state. The state has a total of 146 rural administrative units, known as blocks. Each block has around 350 to 500 habitations. One habitation was selected from each rural block using systematic random sampling. Thus, 146 rural habitations got selected. The size of a habitation ranged from 30 to 80 households. In each selected habitation, all eligible households were to be surveyed. The survey was able to cover a total of 631 households.
Findings:
94% of the children received home- visits from a Mitanin. 87% receiving the relevant messages from Mitanins. 77% of children had timely initiation of complementary feeding. 57% of children had received CF five or more times in a day. 60% of children consumed the various types of food group. 81% of children received the THR. 49% of children consumed the THR. 32% of families were adding oil to food. 71% of children weighed at least once in the previous two months.
Conclusion:
It showed high coverage rates in making home visits for HBYC and delivering the necessary messages. They were able to cover a large proportion of the sick children and provide necessary management of illnesses. The intervention through Mitanin was associated with improvements in timely initiation, frequency, and diversity of complementary feeding.