A Regional workshop on POSHAN ABHIYAAN (National Nutrition Mission) and Pradhan Mantri MatruVandna Yojana (PMMVY) involving the States of Punjab, Haryana and Union Territory, Chandigarh was organised at Dr. Gopi Chand Bhargava Auditorium, PGIMER today. The workshop saw participation by Secretary/Joint Secretary/ Principal Secretaries/ Directors and the representatives from the States of Punjab, Haryana and UT Chandigarh.It is worth mentioning that the POSHAN ABHIYAN was approved by the Union Government in order to address the issue of Malnutrition. POSHAN ABHIYAAN was launched on 8th March 2018 by the Prime Minister in District Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan. The ABHIYAAN targets to reduce under-nutrition, anaemia (among young children, women and adolescent girls) and reduce low birth weight.In his inaugural address Mr. Rakesh Srivastava Secretary Union Ministry of Women and Child Development Govt of India outlined the details of the POSHAN ABHIYAN and PMMVY and said that all stakeholders should work in tandem to create a malnutrition free India.
Dr. Rajesh Kumar Joint Secretary, MWCD, GOI and Colonel Sameer Kanwar (Retd.), Consultant POSHAN Abhiyan deliberated upon the Objectives, Components and Targets of POSHAN Abhiyan. He enumerated the key nutrition strategies and interventions to address the issue of Malnutrition such as IYCF (Infant Young child Feeding ), Food and Nutrition, Immunisation, Institutional Deliveries, WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene ), De-worming, ORS- Zinc, Food Fortification, Dietary diversification, Adolescent Nutrition, Maternal Health and Nutrition, ECD (Early Childhood Development )/ECCE (Early Childhood Care and Education ), Convergence with line departments, ICT-RTM (Information and Communication Technology enabled Real Time Monitoring ). He stressed upon the need of converting this mission into a people's movement and ensure that nutrition topic assumes central significance in every household. He also emphasized that anganwadi centres should become hub of disseminating information concerning health practices and dietary diversification to the people so as to leave a healthy and robust society.In her address, the Director, Social Security, Women and Child Development, Punjab, Mrs. Kavita Singh said that it is high time to devise and effectively implement the strategies for tackling the problem of malnutrition. She also advocated raising awareness about the health issues through the medium of folk art and culture besides bating for a robust grievances redressal mechanism.Other Consultants from the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development discussed in detail the key components of POSHAN Abhiyan and PMMVY which included ICDS-CAS (Common Application Software ), Behaviour Change Communication strategies, Incremental Learning Approach.
V.C. Choudhary, Under secretary, MWCD and Mr. Sumanatra, CDFI and theirteam deliberated upon Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandna Yojna (PMMVY) where a cash incentive of Rs.5000/- would be deposited directly into the bank account of Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers (PW&LM) for the first living child of the family subject to their fulfilling of specific conditions relating to Maternal and Child Health. The team further stressed that PMMVY is being implemented through a Centrally deployed Web Based MIS Software Application and the focal point of implementation would be the Anganwadi centre (AWC) and ASHA, and ANM .Among others present on the occasion included Special Chief Secretary, Social Security and Women & Child Development, Punjab, Mr. KBS Sidhu, Principal Secretary, Women and Child Development Department, Haryana Mr. Raja Sekhar Vundru, Mr. B. L. Sharma, Secretary, Social Welfare, Women and Child Development, Chandigarh, Sh. V.C. Chaudhary, Under Secretary, Union Ministry of Women and Child Development, Smt. Hema Sharma, Director, Women and Child Development Haryana, Miss Navjot Kaur, Director, WCD Chandigarh, Ms. Anuj Malik, IAS and representatives from the States of Punjab, Haryana and UT Chandigarh attended the workshop which was held in five different sessions and had eminent speakers from various fields.