Ismail Attar : The Little Boy Who Just Couldn’t Gain Weight

India as a country has shown very limited progress in reducing undernutrition even when there are several policies that have been in place to address different components of undernutrition. The challenge to reducing malnutrition is underway and various initiatives have risen to address these challenges.

Magu Nagu is one such initiative that has remarkably improved the nutrition levels of children in North Karnataka’s Dharwad region. It was formed to take care of the multiple stories of undernourished children prevalent in India and Ismail Attar was one of those stories.

Ismail Attar weighed merely 2.5 kg at birth. When he was six months old, his weight gradually started to decrease and his immunity was below normal. Despite his parent’s efforts to make him gain weight, he continued to fall ill. His body did not respond well to medications, and he stopped consuming anything except his mother’s milk.

Through the team’s survey, the facilitators of Magu Nagu came to know about Ismail and realized that his body showed signs of malnutrition- he was frail, with a head that was abnormally big. His family was unaware of the nutritional requirements for the child, so the team advised them to use supplements like eeZee paste. With the required nourishment, the child’s weight gradually increased from 6.400 kg to 11.500 kg.

Says his father, an auto driver, “The team of Magu nee Nagu came as angels and advised us. Now we feed our children based on their directions, and are avoiding junk food.”

His mother Salma Banu, says that her son loved the taste of the supplements, especially the eeZee paste. “Initially when Magu Nagu approached us, I was skeptical. I thought when many medicines could not work, how are these packets going to work for Ismail? But he loved the taste and his weight started to increase.” she says.

Magu Nagu has brought a smile on the faces of many children and their families across Dharwad region through the simple and systematic