Hello fellows! Hope you all are doing well. As you all know, The Women and Child Development (WCD) Ministry on August 29, 2021, announced that the 4th POSHAN Mah will be celebrated as ‘Thematic POSHAN Mah’ across India throughout September 2021.
The POSHAN (Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition) Abhiyaan was launched by PM Narendra Modi on March 8, 2018, in Rajasthan. Since 2018, every year, the POSHAN Mah is celebrated during September under the POSHAN Abhiyaan, also known as National Nutrition Mission.
Aim:
To ensure community mobilisation and bolster people’s participation under POSHAN Abhiyan. The POSHAN Abhiyaan aims to make India a malnutrition-free country by 2022. The Abhiyaan aims to reduce stunting in children from 38.4 percent to 25 percent by 2022.
Process: The entire month of September will be subdivided into weekly themes for a focused and assimilated approach towards improving Holistic Nutrition.
The Ministry of Women and Child Development has planned a series of activities throughout the month in tandem with the States and Union Territories.
Some key points:
- POSHAN Abhiyaan is a people’s movement that incorporates inclusive participation from government bodies, local bodies of states or UTs, social organizations, the private sector, and the public at large.
- The Budget 2021-2022 included the announcement of Mission POSHAN 2.0 (Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0) as an integrated nutrition support programme.
- The mission POSHAN 2.0 focuses on strengthening nutritional content, outreach, delivery, and outcomes by developing practices that improve health, wellness, and immune response to disease and malnutrition
POSHAN Maah September 2021 Key Highlights:
| Theme No. | Dates | Name of the Theme |
| Theme 1 | September 1 to 7 | Plantation Activity as “PoshanVatika” |
| Theme 2 | September 8 to 15 | Yoga and AYUSH for Nutrition |
| Theme 3 | September 16 to 23 | Distribution of ‘Regional Nutrition Kit’ to Anganwadi beneficiaries of High Burden Districts. |
| Theme 4 | September 24 to 30 | Identification of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) children and distribution of nutritious food |
Key activities of POSHAN Mah:
- Plantation Drive for POSHAN VATIKA across spaces available at Anganwadis, schools, Gram Panchayats, and other places which will include plantation of saplings of nutritious fruit trees, vegetables, and medicinal herbs and plants.
- Special drive for Height and Weight Measurement for children aged 6 years and below.
- Sensitization and awareness drive for COVID vaccination and Observance of COVID Protocols.
- Sessions on ‘5-minute Yoga Protocol’ (Y-break or yoga break) across governmental and corporate bodies.
- Slogan writing and Recipe competitions to raise awareness about nutritious food for pregnant women.
- Distribution of Nutrition Kits comprising regional nutritious food including Sukadi-Gujrat, Panjiri- Punjab, Sattu- Bihar, Chikki- Maharashtra.
- Awareness campaign on the importance of regional and local food.
- Drive for block-wise Identification of children with Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM), supervised Supplementary Feeding Program for children up to 5 years old with SAM,
- Sensitization for Community Management of Acute Malnutrition and Distribution of nutritious food for children with SAM.
NOTE: The Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) is the nodal ministry for organizing POSHAN Mah under the POSHAN Abhiyaan. Various partner ministries and departments will help with activities related to nutrition awareness across states and union territories up to the grass root levels.
These departments include Anganwadi workers, health and family welfare department through ASHA, ANM, primary health centres, community health centres, schools, and Panchayati Raj departments through panchayats, and Rural Development through Self-help Groups.
POSHAN Abhiyaan: Important Pillars
(i) Use of technology (ICT) for real-time growth monitoring (RTM) and tracking of the health status of women and children
(ii) Inter-sectoral convergence for better service delivery.
(iii) Intensified health and nutrition services for the first 1000 days.
(iv) Jan Andolan.
Objectives and Targets of the POSHAN Abhiyaan:
| OBJECTIVES | TARGETS |
| Prevent and reduce undernutrition (underweight prevalence) in children (0-6 years) | By 6 percentage points at a reduced rate of 2 per cent per annum |
| Reduce the prevalence of anaemia among women and adolescent girls (15-49 years) | By 9 percentage points at a reduced rate of 3 per cent per annum |
| Prevent and reduce stunting in children (0- 6 years) | By 6 percentage points at a reduced rate of 2 per cent per annum by 2022 |
| Reduce the prevalence of anaemia among young children (6-59 months) | By 9 percentage points at a reduced rate of 3 per cent per annum |
| Reduce Low Birth Weight (LBW) | By 6 percentage points at a reduced rate of 2 per cent per annum |
REMEMBER! Under the POSHAN Abhiyaan, the 1st POSHAN Mah was celebrated in September 2018 with a special focus on Social Behavioural Change and Communication (SBCC).
Themes included eating healthy – food fortification, hygiene and sanitation, right age of marriage, antenatal care, optimal breastfeeding, anaemia, and education of girls. The Abhiyaan is India’s flagship programme to improve nutritional outcomes for children, pregnant women and lactating mothers.
So, with this, we came to the end of this detailed blog. For more such interesting & informative blogs, stay tuned.
Thank you!
