Nutrition month launched for kids below 6 yrs, women

Hubballi: The district administration has launched Poshan Maah, a health programme to give immediate and effective treatment to children, pregnant women and lactating mothers suffering from malnutrition issues.
The zilla panchayat women and child welfare department, Dharwad, has found 115 kids who are severely malnourished and another 3,000 who are moderately malnourished in the district.
Earlier, there were only 36 children who were suffering from severe malnutrition, pointing to the fact that the problem is on the rise. Now, Poshan Maah 2022 has been launched to deal with this public health concern.
According to the source, Poshan Abhiyaan is a Government of India flagship programme to improve nutritional outcomes for children under six years of age, pregnant women and lactating mothers.
The month-long event in September will witness intensive activities across the country to create awareness about nutrition at the ground level through sensitisation drives, outreach programmes, identification drives, camps and fairs with special focus on pregnant and lactating women, children below six years and adolescent girls, in order to realise the vision of ‘Swasth Bharat’.
ZP CEO Suresh Itnal said that earlier there were a few malnourished children and women in the district.
“As we have intensified the identification of the malnourished, we found over 100 kids to be severely malnourished and 3,000 moderately malnourished. The Prime Minister Poshan Maah was launched across the country and in the district programmes are being conducted to address the issue,” he said.
The idea of the programme is creating awareness, which is the key to overcome malnourishment.
Food, sanitisation, cleaning, conducting various competitions, providing information regarding child’s health to the mother and other activities will be carried out.
Deputy director, women and child welfare department, HH Kukanoor said: “Special focus will be given to the importance of rainwater conservation among women at anganwadi centers and traditional foods in tribal areas for healthy mother and child.”
She said various programmes were being conducted in anganwadis. In September, there is a programme on different topics every day.
The importance of the first 100 days since the beginning of pregnancy will be communicated to the women, she said.
The first week will have programmes related to women and health; the second week will be about children and nutrition; third will be set aside for gender awareness, water storage and proper use and fourth week for traditional food programme, she said.