Our Correspondent
Kohima, Sep. 8 (EMN): Office of the DPO Kohima under the Social Welfare department launched the month-long celebration of Rashtriya Poshan Maah or national nutrition month on September 8.
Launching the programme as the special guest, Tosheli Zhimomi, joint director of the Social Welfare department, stated that they are celebrating the third Rashtriya Poshan Maah 2020, which started in 2018 as part of PM’s overarching scheme for holistic nourishment.
She explained that Poshan Maah is a flagship programme to improve nutritional outcomes for children, pregnant women and lactating mothers.
The government has launched Poshan Maah 2020 to battle malnutrition, she stated.
Zhimomi informed that Rashtriya Poshan Maah would be celebrated starting from September 1 to the 30th to promote nutrition among women and children. Zhimomi also assured that Nagaland would do its best to realise PM Narendra Modi’s nutrition campaign with the slogan “Eat well and stay healthy”.
Keeping in mind the safety precautions against Covid-19, she urged all the ICDS team members to carry out their activities effectively during the month-long programme in the battle against malnutrition.
Also speaking on the occasion, Imkongzenla, district programme officer, Kohima, informed that the prime minister’s overarching scheme for holistic nutrition or Poshan Abhiyaan is a programme by the government of India that aims to achieve improvement in the status of nutrition of children and women.
The government, through Poshan Abhiyaan, aims to achieve malnutrition-free India by 2022, she stated and urged the public to actively participate in the programme to ensure success and sustainability of Poshan Abhiyaan.
“We should aim to bring public participation through various activities during Poshan Maah and convert nutrition awareness into a mass movement,” Imkongzenla stated.
The officer highlighted the two major objectives of Rashtriya Poshan Maah 2020: (i) identification and tracking of SAM (severe acute malnutrition) children, and (ii) plantation drive for promotion of kitchen/ nutri-gardens at all AWCs and community land.
Emphasising on the identification and tracking of SAM children, she reminded that it should be the duty of the ICDS team to ensure all the children of Nagaland get a solid nutritional start, which would in turn have an impact on the physical, mental and social development of the children.
“Early identification of severe acute malnourished children is important in initiating treatment and minimising the risk of complications.
Breastfeeding together with complementary feeding helps prevent malnutrition and is important for improving child survival,” she said.
“During Poshan Maah, we should extensively carry out drives for identification and referral of SAM children and also promote early initiation and exclusive breastfeeding for children upto the age of six months to prevent future SAM children,” she reminded.
She also maintained that mental and intellectual development is directly related to the quality of one’s food intake, while nutrition does not only imply eating but getting essential nutrients like minerals, vitamins etc.
“During Poshan Maah, families and communities should be educated on the rewarding efforts of kitchen gardens and encouraged to plant nutritious vegetables and fruit bearing trees/ plants in AWCs, schools, government buildings as well as at household level in personal backyards and potted plants in the absence of land,” she added.
While stating that organising and implementing various activities would be difficult due to the pandemic, the officer hoped that the ICDS team would accomplish all their “action plans” productively by adhering to all Covid-19 protocols mandated by the administration.
Theyiehunuo Mere, Kohima Tribal block project assistant, administered the oath to the ICDS team members and read out the Poshan pledge.
Sohile Alaina Tep, district coordinator Poshan, informed that the department would be organising a mask making competition to create awareness and instil the importance of wearing face masks during the Covid-19 pandemic.
It was informed that pickle making competition would be conducted on September 30. The competitions would be opened to AWWs/ SHGs (NRLM) and ASHAs under Kohima district.
