Initiatives and Challenges on National Nutrition week

The National Nutrition week was held between September 1st to September 7th under the program called Poshan Abhiyan.

POSHAN Abhiyaan (National Nutrition Mission) is a flagship programme of the Ministry of Women and Child Development, which ensures convergence with various programmes i.e., Anganwadi Services, Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY), Scheme for Adolescent Girls (SAG), Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY), National Health Mission (NHM), Swachh-Bharat Mission, Public Distribution System (PDS) and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).
The mission targets to reduce stunting, under-nutrition, anemia (among young children, women and adolescent girls) and reduce low birth weight by 2%, 2%, 3% and 2% per annum respectively.
The mission also strives to achieve a reduction in Stunting from 38.4% (NFHS-4) to 25% by 2022 (Mission 25 by 2022).

Malnutrition is a physical state of an unbalanced nutrition level. It is due to undernutrition or over-nutrition.
Malnutrition is the issue of overall development of the society and it is multifactoral in nature for which multi-institutional cooperation is needed to solve this problem.
There are various initiatives or measures taken by the government to contain this issue and try are as follows :

It is launched by PM on September 1st 2020.
It will consist of information related to crops that are grown in each district and their related nutritional value.

The Nutrition card will act as a report card to spread awareness among the children about nutrition.

c) A unique nutrition park has been created at the Statue of Unity, where people can witness the nutrition-related education along with other fun activities.
d) National deworming program

It aims at eradicating intestinal worms also known as Soil-Transmitted Helminths (STH), among children in the age group of 1-19 years.

There is a need to improve health infrastructure, status of women, availability of transportation, electricity etc.
The local food needs to be recognised based on their nutritional values.
Around 35% of the population in India lives below the poverty line for which enough food needs to be delivered which can be done through various schemes.
The issue of anemia is a public health problem which needs to be focussed in a comprehensive level.
The feeding practices have to be taken into consideration for improving the child’s health.
The main focus should lie on changing the behaviour of people and the perception of various groups of people.

The nutrition and proper nourishment play a crucial role in helping children and students to attain their optimum potential.
The mental and intellectual development is directly related to the quality of our food intake.

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