Measures adopted to Eradicate Malnutrition

Measures adopted to Eradicate Malnutrition

• The Government has accorded high priority to the issue of malnutrition and is implementing several schemes/programs of different Ministries/Departments through States/UTs to address various aspects related to nutrition. This Ministry is implementing POSHAN Abhiyaan, Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana, Anganwadi Services and Scheme for Adolescent Girls under the Umbrella Integrated Child Development Services Scheme (ICDS) as direct targeted interventions to address the problem of malnutrition among children and women in the country.
• The government has set up POSHAN Abhiyaan on 18.12.2017. The goals of POSHAN Abhiyaan are to achieve improvement in the nutritional status of children from 0-6 years, Adolescent Girls, Pregnant Women, and Lactating Mothers in a time-bound manner with fixed targets as under:

Objective

The Abhiyaan aims to reduce malnutrition in the country in a phased manner, through a lifecycle approach, by adopting a synergized and result oriented approach. The Abhiyaan has mechanisms for timely service delivery and robust monitoring as well as intervention infrastructure. The major activities undertaken under this Abhiyaan are ensuring convergence with various other programs; Information Technology enabled Common Application Software for strengthening service delivery and interventions; Community Mobilization and Awareness Advocacy leading to Jan Andolan to educate the people on nutritional aspects; Capacity Building of Frontline Functionaries and incentivizing States/ UTs for achieving goals.

National Health Mission (NHM)

• Further steps taken under the National Health Mission (NHM), a flagship program of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, to address malnutrition inter alia include promotion of appropriate Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) practices, Anaemia Mukt Bharat, Iron, and Folic Acid (IFA) supplementation, de-worming, promotion of iodized salt, Vitamin-A supplementation, Mission Indradhanush to ensure high coverage of vaccination in children, conducting intensified diarrhea control fortnights to control childhood diarrhea, management of sick severely malnourished children at Nutrition Rehabilitation Centers, monthly Village Health and Nutrition Days, Home Based Newborn Care (HBNC) and Home-Based Young Child Care (HBYC) programs and Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram. Under POSHAN Abhiyaan, a well-researched, designed and tested communication plan & IEC materials have been developed and intensive Mass Media Campaign is conducted through various mass media channels like radio, television, and social media. Also, during the home visits conducted by AWWs, through the use of ICDS-Common Application Software (ICDS-CAS), the beneficiaries are counseled on nutrition-related issues like breastfeeding, complementary feeding, infant and young child care. ICDS-CAS has embedded videos related to Infant and Young Child care and nutrition for educating the beneficiaries.
• Further, Food and Nutrition Board under this Ministry, through its regional field units, conducts training programs on nutrition and nutrition education programs on the importance of healthy balanced diets especially through the use of locally available foods. Mass awareness campaigns through the use of electronic and print media are also organized.

Source: PIB