National Nutrition Month being celebrated to mark fight against malnutrition

The National Nutrition Month (Rashtriya Poshan Maah) is being celebrated across the country in September 2018 to mark fight against malnutrition. Union Ministry of Women and Child Development are spearheading various programmes during this month to spread broad awareness on issues related to malnutrition like stunting, under-nutrition, anaemia and low birth weight in children.

Key Facts

The National Nutrition Month will also focus on adolescent girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers to eliminate the deficiencies prevailing in the Health sector. Ministry of Women and Child Development is working on eight focused themes like optimal breast feeding, growth monitoring, food fortification and girls’ education, hygiene and sanitation, diet and marriage at right age etc. to achieve improvement in nutritional status of children, adolescent girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers. It is also trying to reach about 11 crore women and children during this month through various grass-root activities, with the convergence of different ministries.

Background

The decision to celebrate September as the National Nutrition Month every year was taken during the second meeting of National Council on India’s Nutrition Challenges under Poshan Abhiyaan (Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition) held in July 2018. POSHAN Abhiyaan- the National Nutrition Mission was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March 2018 in Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan with aim to bring down stunting of children in age group of 0-6 years from 38% to 25% by 2022.

Month: Current Affairs - September, 2018