Government of india strengthen the Priority To Malnutrition Issues
- Child malnutrition is a chronic problem and a longstanding challenge for the public administration of India.
- The first National Family Health Survey (NFHS) in 1992-1993 found that India was one of the worst performing countries on child health indicators.
Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) Scheme
- Anganwadi Services under the Umbrella ICDS Scheme (earlier known as ICDS) was launched in 1975.
- The Scheme represents one of the world’s largest and unique programmes for early childhood care and development.
- It is the foremost symbol of the country’s commitment to its children and nursing mothers.
- It is an initiative for:
- Providing pre-school non-formal education.
- Breaking the vicious cycle of malnutrition, morbidity, reduced learning capacity and mortality on the other.
- The beneficiaries under this scheme are children in the age group of 0-6 years, pregnant women and lactating mothers.
Objectives of the Scheme
- To improve the nutritional and health status of children in the age-group of 0-6 years.
- To lay the foundation for proper psychological, physical and social development of the child.
- To reduce the incidence of mortality, morbidity, malnutrition and school dropouts.
- To achieve effective coordination of policy and implementation amongst the various departments to promote child development.
- To enhance the capability of the mother to look after the normal health and nutritional needs of the child through proper nutrition and health education.
6 services through Anganwadi Centers
- Supplementary Nutrition (SNP)
- Pre-school Non-formal Education,
- Nutrition & Health Education,
- Immunization,
- Health Check-up,
- Referral Services
NRHM & Public Health Infrastructure
- Provides 3 services: Immunization, Health check-up and Referral Services related to health.
Supplementary Nutrition
- Children (0-6 months) - Exclusive Breastfeeding for first 6 months of life.
- Children (6-36 months) - Take Home Ration containing 500 calories of energy and 12-15 gms of protein in the form that is palatable to the child.
- Severely mal-nourished children(6-36 months) - Same type of food as above with food supplement of 800 calories of energy and 20-25 gms. of Protein.
- Children (3-6 years) - Morning snack in the form of milk/banana/seasonal fruits etc. and Hot cooked Meal.
- Severely mal-nourished children(3-6 years) - Additional 300 calories of energy and 8-10 gms. of Protein in the form of micronutrient fortified food and/or energy dense food.
- Pregnant women & Nursing mothers - Take Home Ration in the form of micronutrient fortified food and/or energy dense food.
POSHAN Abhiyaan
- Launched on 8th March 2018.
- Aim: to achieve improvement in nutritional status of Children under 6 years, Adolescent Girls, Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers in a time bound manner by adopting a synergised and result oriented approach.
- Poshan 2.0, an integrated nutrition support programme which subsumes Supplementary Nutrition Programme and POSHAN Abhiyaan.
Conclusion
- Steps have also been taken to improve nutritional quality and testing, strengthen delivery and leverage technology under Poshan Tracker, a robust ICT enabled platform.
- It will improve governance with regard to real time monitoring and provisioning of supplementary nutrition for prompt supervision and management of services.
- The Abhiyaan empowers Anganwadi workers and Lady Supervisors by providing them with smartphones, and Growth Monitoring Devices (comprising of Stadiometer, Infantometer, Weighing Scale for Infant and Mother & Child).