Care for nutrition and development

Optimal growth and development depend not only on food quality and availability, on access to health care services and a healthy environment but also on the care provided to the child especially during the first few years of life. Care refers to the actions and practices of caregivers on a day to day basis that translate food, heakh care, and water and sanitation supplies into good growth and development of children. It includes behaviours such as feeding, sanitation and hygiene, home health practices, preparing food for children, and providing psychosocial support for development. Families also are responsible for providing care for girls in the family and women. Care requires resources--both skills and capabilities, as well as economic resources. Some resources are easily recognised, such as education of the caregiver, but others are less often seen, including time of the caregiver, motivation of caregiver and male family members, organisational resources such as child care centres, and the caregiver's ability to influence decisions about child care. It must be noted that the poorer the family, the more risks for children in the environment. Therefore, the poorer the environment, the more important a role care has in children's survival, growth and development. Implications for health care providers include assessing the care practices in the home, and resources for care when making recommendations; supporting positive practices already being performed in order to empower the caregiver; checking the understanding and recall of the caregiver; and finally, recognising that all children, regardless of gender, ethnicity, case, economic level, etc, have a right to good nutrition and health care in order to develop to their fullest potential under the Convention for the Rights of the Child, acceded to by India in 1992.