VADODARA: Jains in the city turned Santa for underprivileged sections of society on Sunday.A group of around 50 volunteers from the community organized ‘punya ni dukan’ (the shop of virtue) at Samta grounds where around 40,000 items collected through a mega drive were distributed to the needy.With folded hands each of the beneficiary was welcomed to step inside the tent that was erected at the ground for distributing the items.“We had started the collection drive before a month from across the city. Also, we had kept Subhanpura Sthanakavasi Jain Sangh as the deposit centre for the items that we collected from individuals and families,” said Vatsal Doshi, a volunteer involved with the drive.“Before 10 days, we, the group of 50 volunteers, all below the age of 35, startedinsecurity, poor nutrition, and inadequate access to health care all contribute to the problem. Malnourished children and their caregivers often trek long distances for assistance at health facilities, which routinely lack supplies and trained staff. In addition, families frequently lack funds to support proper recovery.

In March 2011, the STRIDES for Family Health program—funded by USAID and implemented by MSH in partnership with Jhpiego, Meridian International and the Ugandan organization Communication for Development Foundation—conducted a nutritional survey in 13 districts in three regions of Uganda, taking anthropometric measurements of 2,654 randomly sampled children between the ages of 0 and 59 months.

The survey revealed an average prevalence rate of global acute malnutrition (GAM) based on weight-for-age assessment of 17.3 percent. The survey also found that 10.9 percent of children suffered