Focus: GS II: Government Policies and Interventions
Why in News?
The Ministry of Women and Child Development will celebrate the fifth Poshan Pakhwada from 20th March 2022 to 3rd April 2023 with various activities nationwide.
Poshan Pakhwada
- The Poshan Pakhwada is an annual event in India aimed at raising awareness about the importance of nutrition and promoting healthy eating habits through Jan Andolan and Jan Bhagidari.
- The theme for thi
Here are some key points about the event:
- The focus of this year’s Poshan Pakhwada is to popularize ‘Shree Anna’- the mother of all grains, as a valuable asset to address malnutrition, given that 2023 has been declared the International Year of Millets.
- The activities during the Poshan Pakhwada will include drives to link millet-based foods with supplementary nutrition, home visits, diet consultation camps, and other initiatives to promote the nutritional benefits of millets.
- The event will also feature the Swasth Balak Spardha, a competition for recognizing and celebrating healthy children based on defined criteria to promote good nutrition and well-being.
- Another focus of the Poshan Pakhwada will be to increase awareness and popularize Saksham Anganwadis, which are upgraded facilities for improving nutrition delivery and early childhood care and education.
- The Poshan Pakhwada is being implemented by the Ministry of Women and Child Development and is aimed at supporting the national goals of promoting nutrition and healthy eating habits across the country.
About Poshan Abhiyaan
- The term ‘POSHAN’ in the name of the programme stands for ‘Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition’.
- POSHAN Abhiyaan launched in 2018 aims at improving the nutritional status of Children from 0-6 years, Adolescent Girls, Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers.
- According to ‘Mission 25 by 2020’, the National Nutrition Mission aims to achieve a reduction in stunting from 38.4% to 25% by 2022.
- POSHAN Abhiyaan focuses on convergence among partner Ministries leveraging technology and Jan Andolan among other things, to address issue of malnutrition comprehensively.
