Poshan Abhiyan

Minister for Women & Child Development, Smriti Irani, noted in Parliament that, State Governments and Union Territories have used only 56% of the total funds released under Poshan Abhiyan or Nutrition Mission in last three years.The central government highlighted that, out of total amount of Rs 5312 crore given between financial years 2019 to 2021, Rs 2985 crore was used.

The five States & UTs where utilisation were lowest are:

• Arunachal Pradesh (25.14%)
• Puducherry (28.03%)
• Ladakh (31.2%)
• Punjab (33.62%) and
• Uttar Pradesh (33.73%).
• Five States & UTs that made most use of the funds are:
• Nagaland (98.34%)
• Meghalaya (98.14%)
• Mizoram (94.22%)
• Sikkim (93.13%) and
• Dadra & Nagar Haveli (88.2%).

What is Poshan Abhiyan?

• Poshan Abhiyan was launched in March 2018 with the aim of reducing stunting, low birth weight, undernutrition challenges by 2% per year.
• It also seeks to reduce anaemia among young children, women and adolescents by 3% per year until 2022.

Poshan maah

• POSHAN Maah is observed in the month of September since 2018, in a bid to improve nutritional outcomes for adolescent girls, children, pregnant women, and lactating mothers.

What is Malnutrition?

• Malnutrition is referred to deficiencies, imbalances or excesses in a person’s intake of energy or nutrients.

The term malnutrition addresses 3 broad conditions:

Undernutrition: Undernutrition includes stunting (low height-for-age), wasting (low weight-for-height) and underweight (low weight-for-age).

Micronutrient-related: It includes micronutrient excess or deficiencies.

Overweight: Obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases (like stroke, heart disease, diabetes and some cancers).