Rashtriya Poshan Maah

2019-09-05 | Team PendulumEdu

The month of September 2019 will be celebrated as the Rashtirya Poshan Maah on the lines of Rashtriya Poshan Maah 2018 (celebrated in September 2018) and ‘Poshan Pakhwada’ (8^th March- 22^nd March 2019). Rashtriya Poshan Maah is an initiative of the Ministry of Women and Child Development and NITI Aayog under Poshan Abhiyaan to sensitize people regarding the importance of holistic nutrition.

The theme for 2019- “Complementary Feeding.”

Need for such Initiative

Only 42.7% of children aged 6 to 8 months receive solid or semi-solid food and breast milk. The problems like Stunting, Wasting, Low Body Weight, Infection due to malnutrition, etc. are related to lack of timely initiation of Complementary Feeding. Around 39% of girls aged 15 to 18 years are out of school.

According to the National Family Health Survey-4 (NFHS-4), in urban areas, 56% of the children under 5 years of age are anaemic, while 51% of the women aged 15-49 years are anaemic. Also, only 31.1% of the Pregnant women in urban areas have gone for full Antenatal Checkups.

Activities under the Poshan Maah

The celebration of poshan maah aims at making it a Jan Andolan through various activities conducted by the different ministries such as Poshan Melas, Nukkad Natak, Poshan Seminar will be arranged by the Ministry of Women and Child Development while Haat Bazaar Activities will be conducted by Ministry of Rural Development and Urban and Housing Affairs. Poshan Walks, Prabhat Pheere, Mass media Campaign, etc. will be organized by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj. Community radio activities will be conducted by District and Block Administration with support from the Department of Ministry of Women and Child Development and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. AYUSH Ministry will organize Health and Nutrition Camp along with Poshan Diwas.

About POSHAN Abhiyaan:

PM’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nourishment- POSHAN Abhiyaan is a multi-ministerial convergence scheme that aims to improve nutritional outcomes for children, adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating mothers through a targeted approach. It is a mission with an objective to make India malnutrition free by 2022.

The scheme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan on March 2018. The scheme will be rolled out in three phases, i.e. 315 districts are covered in the first year, 235 districts in the second year and the remaining will be covered in the third year.

Targets under Poshan Abhiyaan:

• Reduce stunting by 2% per year
• Reduce Under-nutrition by 2% per year
• Reduce Anaemia among children, adolescent girls, and women by 3% per year
• Reduce low birth weight by 2% per year
• Also, reduce stunting from 38.4% (NFHS-4) to 25% by 2022

Other features of the Poshan Abhiyaan

• Mapping of different schemes with an aim to eliminate malnutrition
• ICT based Real-Time Monitoring System
• Time to time social audits
• Incentivization of Anganwadi workers and States/UTs to meet the targets
• Setting up of Nutrition Resource Centres
• Jan Andolan on Nutrition- Mass participation of people through various activities

There is a focus on various themes under the Poshan Abhiyaan like Antenatal Care, Optimal Breastfeeding, Complementary Feeding, Anaemia, Growth Monitoring, Girls- education, diet, right age of Marriage, Hygiene and Sanitation, and Food Fortification.

The motto of Poshan Abhiyan is “Sahi Poshan- Desh Roshan”.

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