New Delhi: The 7th Rashtriya Poshan Maah, launched on 31st August 2024 at Mahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, focuses on key themes such as Anaemia, Growth Monitoring, Complementary Feeding, and Poshan Bhi Padhai Bhi, along with Technology for better governance. The campaign also emphasises environmental sustainability through the Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam initiative, in which plantation is encouraged across all the operational 13.95 lakh Anganwadi centres.
As of the 6th day of the nationwide celebrations, 1.37 crore activities have been reported from 752 districts of 35 states/UTs. Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh are among the top contributing states so far.
In terms of themes (or key focus areas), as of today, over 39 lakh activities have been conducted on Anaemia, over 27 lakh activities on Growth Monitoring, almost 20 lakh activities on Complementary Feeding, over 18.5 lakh activities on Poshan Bhi Padhai Bhi, and 8 lakh activities on environmental sustainability through Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam. One of the key focus areas, namely Technology for Better Governance, has encouraged the designated functionaries of WCD to mark more than 10 lakh activities aimed at effective implementation and monitoring of nutrition indicators and programmatic areas at large, linked to the ICT application Poshan Tracker.
Convergence with ministries/departments has always been the core of Jan Andolans since the nation’s first nutrition-centric Jan Andolans started in 2018. Convergence helps in reaching out to a variety of audiences, especially at the grassroots level. As of today, the top contributing ministries to the ongoing Poshan Maah have been the Ministry of Education (MoE) with 1.38 lakh activities, the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoH&FW) with 1.17 lakh activities, the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) with 1.07 lakh activities, the Ministry of Ayush with 69 thousand activities, and the Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) with 64 lakh activities in support of one or another theme of Poshan Maah 2024.
In addition to the activities mapped against each of the thematic areas, states/UTs are free to take up other sensitisation activities that suit their local environment. The top reported activities so far include anaemia camps for children, anaemia camps for adolescent girls (14-18 years), sensitisation sessions on growth monitoring promotion, growth measurement verification, anaemia camps for women of reproductive age, growth measurement drives (SAM/MAM screening), activities/camps on complementary feeding (safe, adequate, and appropriate complementary foods at 6 months), urban slum-based anaemia camp cum outreach activities, demonstration sessions on cooking complementary food recipes using local food items, SHG, NSS/NYK-related outreach activities on anaemia, awareness camps for dietary diversity in complementary feeding, Shiksha Choupal exclusively to promote ECCE learning corners at AWCs, Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam – plantation along with pledges for environmental protection, demonstration sessions/activities for children and parents on play-based learning promoting indigenous toys, urban slum-based growth measurement drives (SAM/MAM screening), TOYathon – DIY/Indigenous toy-making workshops with AWWs, community-centred Khelo aur Padho events to promote toy-based and play-based learning, measurement drives for weight gain of pregnant women (gestational weight gain) and data entry into Poshan Tracker, food resource mapping on the floor of AWCs to highlight different foods available within the village boundary, and outreach activities on environmental protection with relevant experts.
With the nationwide integrated approach involving community participation and government collaboration, the ongoing Poshan Maah is creating a buzz around "Suposhit Kishori Sashakt Nari" while reaching out to the remotest areas of the country in order to engage and sensitise every individual through nutrition-centric Jan Andolans. /BI
