WCD now targeting malnutrition : Maneka Gandhi

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : The first ever national conference on “Mission Mode to address Under-Nutrition” was held in New Delhi on September 19, 2017. It was inaugurated by Minster for Women & Child Development (WCD)  Maneka Sanjay Gandhi in the presence of Minister of State for Women & Child Development Virendra Kuamr. The conference was organized by the Ministry of Women & Child Development in collaboration with Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation and Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, keeping in mind the goal of “Mission Malnutrition Free India-2022”.
Speaking on the occasion, Maneka Sanjay Gandhi said that after the resounding success of Prime Minister Narendra Modi Ji’s `Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ programme, the WCD Ministry is now targeting malnutrition. For this, there is urgent need to improve the quality of supplementary nutrition and also make the delivery system efficient, she added. ” We must provide 1,000 calories to women and 600 calories to children under ICDS. The focus of the entire programme should be to administer nutrition rather than feeding beneficiaries by giving Nutrient Dense Food,” she said, according to a PIB release.

A change in policy is required to implement this, the Minister said. The Ministry of Women & Child Development will issue new guidelines on supplementary nutrition in this regard in the next few days which will supersede all existing guidelines. Similarly, a separate self contained protocol for severely and acutely malnourished (SAM) children will also be issued shortly. The Minister also highlighted the importance of child protection alongwith nutrition, according to the PIB release.
The Minister of State for Women and Child Develoment Virendra Kumar said  the country has succeded in eliminating several difficult problems like chickenpox, polio etc. and it should not be difficult for it to overcome the problem of malnutrition.

CEO, NITI Aayog, Shri Amitabh Kant, Secretary, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Parameswaran Iyer; Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Development, Rakesh Srivastava and Additional Secretary, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Manoj Jhalani also addressed the participants.