India, July 8 -- Four in ten children are underweight in Madhya Pradesh, according to the latest National Family Health Survey (NFHS-6). Parvati Bhabhar, a resident of Ratlam's Ghodakedha village in Madhya Pradesh, is relieved her son is no longer one of them. However, she knows that he had a lucky escape.

Had she not registered with Sneha, an initiative to improve the health and nutrition of women and children, implemented by the Centre for Health Education, Training and Nutrition Awareness (CHETNA), a non-profit, she would have remained ignorant about her anaemia and its impact on her underweight newborn. Neither would she have known how to turn their health conditions around.

Parvati had returned to work as a daily wage labourer soon...