PHM-Exch> Idia: Unicef hands out therapeutic foods bypassing State

[Claudio Schuftan]

C Shivakumar

CHENNAI: UNICEF did not seek the approval of the Government of India before
it procured and distributed ready-to-use therapeutic foods (RUTF) in certain
cases, an RTI reply has revealed.
The world body had procured emergency supplies worth $2.4 million, of which
the RUTF stock was supplied in parts of India late last year without
official permission, the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development said
in response to an application filed under the Right to Information Act.
UNICEF has denied the charge.
The response to the RTI said Unicef imported RUTF and distributed it in
“some of the states without any knowledge or approval of the ministry”.
What’s more, the Centre has noticed it isn’t a one-off. In a separate memo,
to which Express gained access, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
stated it has also noticed that “activities by the international agencies
are being carried out within the domain of reproductive child health without
any prior intimation/discussion/approval of the Government of India.”
Unicef, it added, organised a weeklong activity in November last year on
RUTF in Pune and invited two foreign experts. “The RUTF is Plumpynut (a
high-protein, peanut-based paste) from France costing USD $60 per child.
RUTF are not an accepted strategy of the government of India, neither under
reproductive child health nor under ICDS.” But Unicef ’s communication
specialist Thomas George said the agency’s officials did have the requisite
permission. “The RUTF was used in Madhya Pradesh and Bihar after discussions
and deliberations with the state governments,” he maintained.
The RUTF was despatched after a Bihar government official, in last
September, sought relief for four flood-hit districts of the state, he
added.
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