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• The Prime Minister of India on the Maan ki Baat programme urged the nation to fight “malnutrition”, the PM also stressed that social awareness is an important tool for this fight.
• Key points of the PM speech:
  • Better use of technology and public participation is an important part of this fight.
  • The Poshan Abhiyan, Jal Jeevan Mission, etc are going to have a great influence in making India malnutrition free.
  • ‘Project Sampoorna’ programme in Assam; Mother of a healthy child meets the mother of a malnourished child every week at an Anganwadi centre and discusses information related to nutrition.

Malnutrition

• Malnutrition refers to deficiencies, excesses, or imbalances in a person’s intake of energy and/or nutrients, as per the World Health Organisation (WHO).
• Children with malnutrition have weaker immune systems, leaving them vulnerable to developmental delays, disease and death

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Reasons behind Malnutrition:

• Calorie deficiency
• Protein Hunger
• Micronutrient malnutrition
• Poor women due to financial burdens can’t afford good nutrition.
• Poor sanitation, lack of access to good quality food, and lack of access to mineral drinking water are the biggest reasons behind it.
• Birthing children at a young age, poor nutritional status of pregnant women and lack of adequate gap between two children are other reasons.
• Low per capita income, Higher food inflation especially fruit inflation, and mono-diet (having rice and lentils only) further aggravate the malnutritions.
• Poor implementation of the Policies like ICDS (Integrated Child Development Scheme), corruption in the implementation of the Mid-day meal scheme, and lack of convergence between different ministries are other policy-related causes.
• Poor fund utilization: The many States have only utilized 16% of their allotted funds in National Nutrition Mission.

Steps taken to mitigate malnutrition:

• ICDS scheme: It focuses on improving the nutritional and health status of children in the age group 0-6 years. It involves:
  • Supplementary nutrition (SNP),
  • Immunization,
  • Health check-up,
  • Referral services,
  • Pre-school non-formal education
• Mid-day meal: It focuses on improving the nutritional status of children.
• Poshan Abhiyan:
  • POSHAN Abhiyaan was initiated by the Government of India in 2017 with an aim to reduce the level of stunting in children (0-6 years), under-nutrition (underweight prevalence) in children (0-6 years) and Low Birth Weight at 2% per annum and reduce anaemia among young children (6-59 months), women and adolescent girls at 3% per annum across the country.
  • It ensures convergence with various programmes, organising Community-Based Events; incentivising States/UTs for achieving goals.
• Included pulses in the PDS and mid-day meals for dealing with protein hunger and to reduce micronutrient malnutrition.

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