Shillong, March 7: Poshan Abhiyaan (National Nutrition Mission) is India’s flagship programme to improve nutritional outcomes for children, pregnant women and lactating mothers. Launched in March 2018, the programme, through use of technology and Real Time Monitoring, a targeted approach and convergence, strives to reduce the level of stunting, under-nutrition, anemia and low birth weight in children, as also, focus on adolescent girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers, thus holistically addressing malnutrition.
Several programmes across Ministries and Departments have been tackling the issues of malnutrition and anemia for more than 40 years. Through these schemes have made a dent, however, these initiatives have not been able to achieve the desired goals and targets. POSHAN Abhiyaan on one hand looks to synergize all these efforts by leveraging technology to achieve the desired goals and on the other, intends to convert Nutrition Awareness into a Jan Andolan meaning “People’s Movement”.
The Ministry of Women and Child Development announced that the Government will celebrate the first anniversary of POSHAN Abhiyaan on 8th March, 2019 by organizing Poshan Pakhwada across the country. Poshan Pakhwada will be celebrated as part of Jan Andolan under POSHAN Abhiyaan from 8th – 22nd March, 2019 and will be celebrated on lines of “Poshan Maah” held in the month of September, 2018.
The Pakhwada will be launched on International Women’s Day on 8th March, 2019. The Ministry of Women & Child Development is the nodal ministry for coordinating activities during the month, accordingly, all District offices of Social Welfare Department will celebrate in convergence mode with other line departments.
Key activities which include Poshan Melas, Rally on nutrition at all levels, Prabhat Pheree, Session on nutrition at schools, Self Help Group meetings, anemia camps, growth monitoring of children, home visits of newborn babies by ASHA/AWW, Village Health, Sanitation and Nutrition Day (VHSND), Community Based Events (CBE) will be carried out. Further, IEC activities through mass media, mid media and Social Media will be carried out during Poshan Pakhwada.
Social Media Campaign Hashtag #PoshanPakhwada through media partners and team of Swasth Bharat Preraks would be carried out for maximum reach.
