A mother feeding her malnourished child in the nutrition rehabilitation centre at Khalwa village, district Khandwa, 350 kilometers away from state capital Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India © picture-alliance/dpa

A UN-backed survey in India has shown that simple interventions such as distributing iron folic acid tablets to children and engaging community workers to promote breast feeding has led to considerable improvement in the health of children and women in India. Saba Mebrahtu, chief of child development and nutrition at UNICEF India tells DW how these simple models could be easily replicated by other developing countries facing the problem of child malnutrition, the underlying cause of death for 3 million children annually around the world. She also talks about the challenges that remain as far as child and women nutrition status in India is concerned. The survey is the first national survey of child and maternal health in India in the last decade.

Chetanbari’s barefoot auditor, Poonam Devi, 25, is always accessible for help and advice to the women in the village. (Credit: Ajitha Menon\WFS)

A lilting tribal tune catches the attention of the gaggle of women gathered at the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) center in Jidu Pandra village that falls in Ormanjhi block of Jharkhand’s Ranchi district. Almost at once, all eyes follow the sound that is coming from the farthest corner of  the room. As they keenly listen to the beautiful voice of Suman Devi, 25, singer and composer, gradually the Nagpuri lyrics explaining the ill-effects of child marriage start to sink in.

Barefoot Auditor Suman Devi, 25, who writes, composes and sings songs on health, sanitation and regressive social practices such as child marriage and dowry, takes pains to explain the importance of adequate nutrition for pregnant women. (Credit: Ajitha Menon\WFS)

When the melody comes to an end, in the ensuing stillness, Suman opens a discussion on healthcare for women and adolescents. How successful is this method?

Mental health continues to remain a taboo topic in India despite the high suicide rates in the country. Roma Rajpal-Weiß, WTO Reporter spoke to Dr. Vikram Patel, renowned psychiatrist and the co-founder of NGO Sangath and the Centre for Global Mental Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine about the stigma attached to mental health in India and the measures that can be undertaken to give rich and the poor equal access to mental healthcare.

A woman, who underwent sterilization surgery at a government mass sterilisation “camp”, walks to sit in a hospital bed at a district hospital in Bilaspur, in the eastern Indian state of Chhattisgarh, November 13, 2014. © Reuters/M. Mukherjee

Women in rural India continue to lack access to proper family planning services. This issue came under spotlight with the tragic death of 16 women who were sterilized in a health camp in the northeastern State of Chhattisgarh in November 2014. The doctor who had performed the surgeries confessed in an interview that he had a history of completing 200-300 surgeries a day. It was also reported that women were given no follow up care.

Antonia thought being thin would make her happy, but instead she slipped into a spiral of despair and ended up in hospital. Now she’s through the ordeal and is a role model to thousands worldwide.

                                                                                                                                    (Copyright: picture alliance/dpa)

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