SHILLONG: With the state facing serious malnutrition issues, the state government is stressing on advocacy through line departments and public participation to eradicate malnutrition in sync with the central government’s target.
In this connection, a conference on Poshan Abhiyaan and Rashtriya Poshan Maah (National Nutrition Month) was organised by the Social Welfare department and inaugurated by Social Welfare Minister Kyrmen Shylla on Thursday.
In his inaugural address, Shylla said that the objective of the conference is to sensitise all stakeholders about the Poshan Abhiyaan and the Rashtriya Poshan Maah and to seek measures to address the problem of malnutrition in the state and the country as well.
He added that there is a need to work across institutional boundaries and reach out through various departments for achieving the shared vision of reducing and eradicating malnutrition.
Shylla informed that the government and the Social Welfare Department are committed to ensuring that the nutritional status of children and women in the state improves and expressed hope that all stakeholders will do their part for the success of the nutritional campaign.
Additional Chief Secretary, Social Welfare, H. Marwein informed the gathering that the objective of the Poshan Abhiyaan is to eliminate malnutrition in the country by 2022 and the focus is to achieve the results through convergence of various line departments.
He added that the National Nutrition Mission will strive to reduce stunting, under nutrition, anemia and low birth babies.
He further stated that with the incentivising of the Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) for using IT based tools, the need of maintaining registers by the AWWs will be eliminated.
Secretary, Health & Family Welfare, Pravin Bakshi said that the figure of nutritional stunting and wasting in the state is the highest in the country and this calls for concerted and coordinated action.
Commissioner and Secretary, Social Welfare, T. Dkhar said Poshan Abhiyaan is a people’s movement launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to eliminate malnutrition from the country.
“In our state we are facing serious issues on nutrition such as anemia, problem of stunting and wasting.”
“This programme aims to promote nutrition aspect,” he said.
“It is a public participation in a sense that all the communities will have to be involved in the programme and make awareness about the importance of achieving the nutritional aspects”, he added.
Dkhar said the line departments will advocate the growing concern of improving malnutrition through awareness campaign throughout the state which will go up to the village level.
The National Nutrition Mission (NNM) has been set up with a three year budget of Rs 9046.17 crore commencing from 2017-18.
Officials from PHE, Education, Food and Civil Supplies, Health and C&RD departments also attended the conference.
The business session which was held after the inauguration comprised of an overview on Poshan Abhiyaan and Rashtriya Poshan Maah which included presentations by various line departments.
