Gujarat: Females no longer oppose nutritional supplements

RAJKOT: Hemangi Choraliya, a teenage girl living in Junagadh’s Vanthli taluka, loathed the taste of fortified powder, the nutritious mix distributed under government scheme to check malnutrition among pregnant women, children and adolescent girls. However, for the last one month, she has been relishing various delicacies like thepla and handvo made from this powder.
Like Hemangi, there are hundreds of beneficiaries, who were earlier averse to using this powder, but have now developed a taste for it.
Noticing that the packets of fortified powder only gathered dust in houses and only a countable number of beneficiaries demanded more, the Junagadh district administration hit upon a simple idea - sharing recipes of various delicacies that can be cooked with this powder on Whatsapp groups.
Various types of recipes were sent in nearly 200 groups regularly. As a result, not only has the uptake of fortified power increased but nutritional levels among the beneficiaries has also improved considerably.
“I did not like its sweet taste earlier and avoided eating it raw despite knowing that it contained protein, vitamins and minerals required for my physical growth. Since I have been taught how to cook my favourite dishes using this powder, I started using it regularly,” said Choraliya, who lives in Shapar village.
Junagadh district development officer (DDO) Mirant Parikh said, “We came up with an idea to make our day-to- day food items using this powder and organized a competition among anganwadi women.
We recorded videos of the food recipes they made. After scrutiny, we started circulating the videos on various WhatsApp groups of beneficiaries”
More than 200 WhatsApp groups had been created during the Covid period in the district to disseminate relevant information to pregnant women and adolescent girls. The same groups are now used to post the videos.
Officials said this experiment has boosted the nutritional levels among a group of beneficiaries by 30 to 40%. Live Live demos of various dishes are also held at anganwadis for beneficiaries.
Parikh says they carry out surveys of beneficiaries every Wednesday to check the nutritional parameters, height and weight of the beneficiaries.
“After we introduced the videos, we found 30-40% improvement in the nutritional levels among them. The demand for our powder has also increased,” said the DDO.
ICDS programme manager in Junagadh, Sharda Desai, said: “This powder provides nutrition but its sweet taste and sticky texture is not liked by many. Now, we are teaching them how to use this powder in sabji, dhokla, thepla, handvo, etc and they are happily taking it.”