Healthy Mother and Healthy Child for a Healthy Nation

This is a month of celebration for nutrition

In various parts of the country, the month-long (September 1-30), POSHAN Abhiyan is on. In its 7th edition, the programme – Rashtriya POSHAN Maah, awareness programs are being organized at various levels.

POSHAN Abhiyan (Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme For Holistic Nourishment) focuses on advancing nutritional outcomes for children under six years, adolescent girls, pregnant women, and lactating mothers. To cultivate widespread awareness about nutrition at each stage of life.

It is celebrated annually as Poshan Maah (1st—30th September) and Poshan Pakhwada (fortnight of March).

Under the ICDS (Integrated Child Development Services) Project, complementary feeding activities are conducted mostly at Anganwadi Centres (AWC), where local food items and nutrition sources are displayed. These efforts aim to further the Prime Minister’s vision of a ‘Suposhit Bharat’ by conducting diverse large-scale activities, harnessing the potential of Gram Panchayats and Urban Local Bodies.

The POSHAN Abhiyaan, which was launched in 2018, has catered to 10 crore beneficiaries through over 100 crore nutrition sensitisation activities. A better proportion of these activities are focused on overall nutrition, anaemia, hygiene (water and sanitation), breastfeeding, growth monitoring, and immunisation. These activities aim to raise awareness on good nutrition and hygiene by providing accurate information and supplements to manage under-nutrition.

It may be noted that India has implemented several nutrition programmes over the last 40 years, including the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) and the midday meal scheme. However, nutrition issues and stunting persist, becoming roadblocks to the country’s development. There are many cases of loss in adult height and high rates of anaemia among women, mainly due to the inadequate diets.

Experts say that 4.6 million cases of stunted children under five years can be prevented by scaling up several interventions through supplementary food provision during childhood, coupled with access to improved sanitation and water.

While India has taken strides in reducing malnutrition, much still remains to be done before the country can achieve the global targets. The ICDS, India’s primary nutritional and child development scheme, employs a multipronged approach to children’s wellbeing by integrating health, educational, and nutritional interventions through a community network of anganwadi centres (AWCs).

According to Dr. Shoba Suri, a Senior Fellow with Observer Research Foundation’s Health Initiative, malnutrition can cause a GDP loss of 4% for India. Inadequate dietary intake is typically the cause for the poor nutritional status of girls. Only half of all women consume a wholesome diet, with only 47% having a daily intake of green leafy vegetables, 46% consuming fruits once every week, and 45% eating pulses daily. Undernourished women will likely become undernourished mothers, with a greater chance of birthing low-birth-weight babies who are more liable to infections and growth failure. This perpetuates an intergenerational cycle of malnutrition, which is heightened by poverty, social exclusion, and gender discrimination, resulting in irreversible effects on cognitive and physical development. Evidence suggests that continued investment in areas with a high rate of early marriage and childbearing, and the subsequent eradication of adolescent pregnancy, will result in a reduced burden of undernutrition in India.

Suri argues that food security is key to India’s overall development agenda. Proactive measures are needed to deal with the longstanding problems of malnutrition and food insecurity. Convergence of programmes across sectors must be strengthened to achieve better nutrition and health outcomes.