POSHAN ABHIYAN: MoU signed between AYUSH Ministry and WCD Ministry to control Malnutrition

On September 20, 2020, the Ministry of Ayush and Ministry of Women and Child Development signed a Memorandum of Understanding to control malnutrition in the country. The agreement was signed as a part of Poshan Abhiyaan.

Highlights

According to the Memorandum of understanding, the Women and Child Development Ministry will undertake scientifically proven and user based solutions to control malnutrition in the country. Also, medicinal Gardens and nutri Gardens are to be established in every Anganwadi in the near future.

The Ayush ministry is already contributing specific measures such as feeding practices for lactating mothers, right intake of diet for pregnant women, use of traditional products to augment milk secretion and nutritional food for children.

Background

According to the Global nutrition report 2020 India is likely to miss Global nutrition targets by 2025. The report also says that India is one among 88 countries in the world that is likely to miss the target.

Global Nutrition Report, 2020

The report says that one in two women of reproductive age in India is anaemic. Around 20.8% of children are wasted and 37.9% of children are stunted.

Malnutrition status in India

• According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations there are 194.4 million people that are undernourished in India. This is about 14.5 % of the total population. India ranked 102 in global hunger index 2019 out of 117 countries.
• According to ICMR, malnutrition was the major cause of death in children younger than 5 years of age in 2017.
• Also, malnutrition is the leading cause of death and disability in India according to the Global burden of disease study 2017.

Causes of malnutrition in India

• Poor mother’s health
• Social inequality and sanitation
• Lack of diversifying food
• Lack of food security centre
• Failure of government approaches
• Spread of diseases
• Poverty
• Lack of Nutrition
• Current initiatives by GoI to reduce malnutrition

Measures by GoI to control Malnutrition

Integrated Child Development Scheme

The scheme aims at providing food supplements to children from poor and marginalized sections. It’ll also bridge the gap between the requirement of dietary intake and the actualintech. It also ways children to detect early growth faltering and undernutrition.

Universal salt iodization

This program was initiated in 1992. It was begun under National Iodine Deficiency Control Programme. The goal of the program is to ensure that all salt available in the country for human consumption or iodized.

Other Schemes

The other schemes that target on nutrition are Janani Suraksha Yojana mid-day-meal scheme, Matritva Sahyog Yojana, National Rural Drinking Water Programme, National Food Security Mission, Targeted Public Distribution system, National Rural Livelihoods Mission, MGNREGA, National Nutrition Mission and Poshan Abhiyaan.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India had recently released fortification standards for five staple foods in the country. The main target of the programme is to fight micronutrient malnutrition in the country. The National Institute of Nutrition has released food composition tables to increase focus on dietary diversity.

Month: Current Affairs - September, 2020