Growth Monitoring Promotion

Recognizing that “undernutrition’s most damaging effects occur in utero and during the first two years of life, and recognizing that the effects of this early damage on health, brain development, intelligence, educability, and productivity are largely irreversible”1, a top priority of Calcutta Kids’ Maternal and Young Child Health Initiative is assuring that our children are well nourished during this critical period. One of the ways in which we ensure a healthy childhood is by carefully monitoring each child’s growth. As part of the MYCHI, children attend a growth monitoring promotion camp once a month for 36 months. Here they are weighed and their weights are recorded on growth charts which, using WHO growth standards, will let us know – and importantly let the caretaker know, whether the child is growing normally. If a child is found to be growth faltering, his or her parents are given extra counseling on health-promoting behaviors. Food supplements are provided in cases of severe malnutrition.


All over the world, Growth Monitoring Promotion (GMP) is an important element in pediatric practice – and it is in ours as well. We try and put the emphasis on the promotion aspect of GMP because, too often, it’s the child weighing that gets all the attention. The real value of GMP lies in its ability to observe the child’s growth visually, and to promote better feeding and caring practices for those children whose growth is faltering.


The growth card – and we’ve got a really good one based on international best practices – is, in itself, a communications tool used to encourage parents to take action to improve their children’s nutritional status before it turns into serious malnutrition.


Particular attention is given to the counseling of women in effective means of dealing with growth faltering. More generally, once these women see the value of the growth monitoring promotion and its importance in keeping their kids healthy, they themselves become the primary agents of change.