MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
(DR. VIRENDRA KUMAR)
(a), (b) & (c): Poshan Maah has been celebrated in the month of September, 2018 across the country with the aim to sensitize the people regarding the malaise of malnutrition and also to make them aware of interventions available to tackle the ill effects. Poshan Maah witnessed a plethora of events and festivities at field level which accounted for more than 22 lakh activities leading to participation of 25 crore plus individuals across the country. The real time dashboard enabled monitoring of the progress generated a healthy competition between the States/UTs. One of the most encouraging outcomes of the Poshan Maah has been the success in achieving convergence at all levels. The month logged 4.8 lakh converged activities across Ministries and 32% of all activities (22 lakh plus) were carried out by among field functionaries (AWWs, ASHAs, ANMs, SHGs). No funds were earmarked separately for celebration of Poshan Maah.
(d): Yes, Madam, the Community Radio Stations (CRSs) proved to be an effective medium in building local content, communicating in local dialects, and connecting with remote communities. The Poshan Maah gave 100 Community Radios an opportunity to come together and demonstrate their strength and competence in disseminating information on issues of nutrition. Radio programmes, through a slew of innovative activities and exciting outreach events, the CRS’s helped bridge the ‘last mile connectivity’ across the country to reach around 1.5 crore population.
(e): Yes, Madam, the Government has launched a toll free helpline (14408) as a follow-up and intervention mechanism based on the identified indicators i.e number of underweight children in an Aanganwadi Centre, number of Severely Malnourished Children, Inactive Aanganwadi Centres and Organization of Village Health Sanitation and Nutrition Day (VHSND) by an Anganwadi Worker.
(f): The POSHAN Abhiyaan aims to reduce malnutrition from the country in a phased manner, through the life cycle concept, by adopting a synergised and result oriented approach. The Abhiyaan will ensure mechanisms for timely service delivery and a robust monitoring as well as intervention infrastructure. The POSHAN Abhiyaan through the targets will strive to reduce the level of stunting, under-nutrition, anaemia and low birth weight babies. It will create synergy, ensure better monitoring, issue alerts for timely action, and encourage States/UTs to perform, guide and supervise the line Ministries and States/UTs to achieve the targeted goals. Convergance, organising Community Based Events, IEC and Advocacy, Jan Andolan, Incremental Learning training, ICDS-CAS etc. are core components of POSHAN Abhiyaan which will also help to bring down stunting in children.
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