Making Nutrition Services Work for Socially Excluded Groups: Lessons from the Integrated Nutrition and Health Project

A relatively large proportion of India's underweight children belong to groups facing multiple disadvantages. Addressing child malnutrition among these communities is critical if India is to eliminate undernutrition and achieve the MDG goals. This article draws evidence from the Integrated Nutrition and Health Project II (INHP?II), a USAID funded project, implemented by CARE in India, to show how, by ensuring universal service coverage, a programme can enhance equity and inclusion. INHP?approaches such as: Nutrition and health days (NHD); prioritising home contacts; system strengthening; community participation; tracking left?out children; enhancing convergence and coverage of nutritional and health services, all help to improve nutritional outcomes among all sections of society, particularly socially excluded groups.