SRINAGAR, SEPTEMBER 28: The Srinagar administration Saturday organised a sensitisation programme on the national nutrition mission known as the POSHAN Abhiyaan for officers and officials of concerned departments.
The programme was organised with Deputy Commissioner Srinagar Dr Shahid Iqbal Choudhary in chair.
The programme included a range of relevant topics aimed at sensitising the concerned about the aspects of the national nutrition mission and its importance.
Additional Deputy Commissioner Kuldeep Krishan Sidha who is also the District Programme Officer ICDS Srinagar highlighted the objectives of the mission and the need for joint efforts through convergence of concerned departments in order to ensure its successful implementation.
He highlighted the need for a multi-pronged strategy involving convergence, use of technology, intensified health and nutrition services for first 1000 days and mission-mode implementation involving field workers, community and PRIs.
The session also touched upon key issues in childhood nutrition and interventions required to deal with them like home-based infant care and a comprehensive primary healthcare mechanism.
The need for Poshan Maah Jan Andolan activities by departments various departments including Women & Child Development, Social Welfare, Health & Family Welfare, School, Education & Learning, Panchayat Raj, AYUSH and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship was also emphasised in the programme.
The sensitisation programme also included a session on nutrition and what constitutes a balanced nutrition and its importance in prevention of malnutrition.
Food Safety Officer Srinagar Nadiya Malik speaking on the occasion gave a detailed information about nutrients found in foods and their classification and emphasised the importance of balanced diet and nutrition.
She explained the difference between undernutrition and malnutrition and how these lead different kinds of diseases like kwashiorkor and marasmus in children.
The session also included information about dietary sources and foods and daily intake requirements of macronutrients and micronutrients.
Chief Medical Officer Srinagar Dr Talat Jabeen also spoke on occasion highlighting different ongoing programmes of the Health department aimed at awareness and reduction and prevention of malnutrition in the district. She said a lot of programmes also focus on adolescent girls and pregnant and lactating women in order to address the issue of malnutrition in a holistic manner.
Deputy Commissioner Srinagar Dr Shahid Iqbal Choudhary while speaking on the occasion highlighted the importance of a mechanism required to be put in place to ensure complete coverage of target groups and thorough implementation of the nutrition mission in the district.
He instructed the concerned departments to hold awareness camps about the programme for the information of the target population and to ensure proper monitoring of implementation of the nutrition mission.
Dr Shahid said a lot can be done to improve the nutrition status of children and called on all concerned officers and departments to come up with innovative ideas and proposals aimed at meticulous and successful implementation of the nutrition mission in the district.
POSHAN Abhiyaan launched last year aims to reduce malnourishment in the country in a phased manner by way of adoption of a synergised and result-oriented approach.
The goals of the mission are to achieve improvement in nutritional status of children from 0-6 years, pregnant and lactating mothers in a time bound manner during the next three years beginning 2017-18.
It aims to ensure convergence of all nutrition-related schemes of the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) on target population.
