What Is National Nutrition Mission?
The National Nutrition Mission is also known as Poshan Abhiyan. This mission was launched in the year 2018 but was being implemented in 2017 by the Indian Government with the aim of tackling the problem of malnutrition in the country.
The National Nutrition Mission is summed up in the following points:
- The main objective of the National Nutrition Mission is to reduce the level of malnutrition.
- It also enhances the nutritional status of children in India
- It is a multi-ministerial initiative and it aims to remove the problem of malnutrition by the year 2022
- Poshan Abhiyan or National Nutrition Mission is a flagship scheme of India and it aims to improve the nutritional outcomes of children, adolescents, pregnant women and lactating mothers.
- It leverages technology and also the convergence between different departments and modules
- The term ‘Poshan’ means nutrition, but in this scheme, the word ‘Poshan’ stands for ‘Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition
- As per the National Nutrition Mission, there will be a reduction in stunting from the rate of 38.4% to 25% by the year 2022
What Are The Specific Targets Of the National Nutrition Mission?
The main targets of the scheme are mentioned below:
- Reducing the stunting by 2% annually
- Reducing under-nutrition by 2% annually
- Reducing anaemia by 3% annually
- Reducing LBW (Low Birth Weight) babies by 2% annually
What Is The Impact Of COVID-19 On Malnutrition?
The pandemic of coronavirus has seriously affected not only our country but the whole of the world. The post-effects of the pandemic on malnutrition are mentioned below:
- The lockdown has snatched the income sources of a lot of people and people were not able to go back to their homes too and were stuck in the other states.
- Many people lost their jobs and their income sources, due to which some of the people were not even able to feed themselves and fulfil the basic requirements of their families.
- This resulted in malnutrition as a lot of people were not able to afford food for themselves as well as for their families.
- On one hand, the pandemic of coronavirus caused huge losses to the big businessmen and on the other hand, the middlemen lost their jobs and the people who were below the poverty line were not even able to afford food for themselves.
- This is the reason why a lot of people died due to malnutrition.
- Poverty is one of the biggest problems of India and the pandemic of coronavirus contributed much more to this problem and made it worse.
- The pandemic of coronavirus pushed millions of people into poverty by reducing their income sources.
- It disproportionately affected the people who were economically disadvantaged, who are the most vulnerable and malnutrition and food insecurities
- The lockdown also disrupted the essential services such as supplementary feeding in the mid-day meals, Anganwadi centres, micro-nutrient supplementation and immunisation.
What Are The Benefits Of The National Nutrition Mission?
The benefits of the National Nutrition Mission are mentioned below:
- The second phase of this scheme benefitted around 7,712 children in 20 districts in Rajasthan.
- This was done by bringing the children out of malnutrition
- The health of the children is monitored via Anganwadi centres whereas the participation of the community is also encouraged
- Around 70% of the children who were identified came out of the problem of malnutrition.
- A prudent amount of food supplements are provided in order to resolve the problem of malnutrition.
National Nutrition Mission FAQs
✅ Who launched the National Nutrition Mission?
It is also known as Rashtriya Poshan Mission and it was launched by the Government of India.
✅ When was the National Nutrition Mission launched?
The National Mission was launched in the year 2018
✅ What is the aim of the National Mission?
The main aim of the National Nutrition Mission is to achieve improvement in the nutritional status of children within the age group of 0-6 years
