Union Cab approves setting up of National Nutrition Mission

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : The Union Cabinet chaired by PM Narendra Modi on November 30, 2017,  approved setting up of National Nutrition Mission (NNM) with a three year budget of Rs 9,046.17 crore commencing from 2017-18. The NNM, as an apex body, will monitor, supervise, fix targets and guide the nutrition related interventions across the Ministries.

The programme through the targets will strive to reduce the level of stunting, under-nutrition, anemia and low birth weight babies. It will create synergy, ensure better monitoring, issue alerts for timely action, and encourage States/UTs to perform, guide and supervise the line Ministries and States/UTs to achieve the targeted goals, according to a PIB release.

More than 10 crore people will be benefitted by this programme.  All the States and districts will be covered in a phased manner- 315 districts in 2017-18, 235 districts in 2018-19 and remaining districts in 2019-20.

Implementation strategy would be based on intense monitoring and Convergence Action Plan right upto the grassroot level. NNM will be rolled out in three phases from 2017-18 to 2019-20. NNM targets to reduce stunting, under-nutrition, anemia (among young children, women and adolescent girls) and reduce low birth weight by 2%, 2%, 3% and 2% per annum (pa) respectively. Although the target to reduce Stunting is at least 2% pa, the Mission would strive to achieve reduction in Stunting from 38.4% (NFHS-4) to 25% by 2022.