Maneka calls for change of mindset towards malnutrition of mother and child

New Delhi, Sept 19: Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi today praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Beti Bachao Beti Padhao' scheme for bringing about a 'a phenomenal change in the mindset' and said a similar approach was needed to fight malnutrition, particularly among mothers and child. 'What factors into undernourished mother and child is also the mindset against daughters,' blamed the Minister addressing the first ever national conference on mission mode to address Under-Nutrition being held here. Highlighting the importance of child protection along with nutrition, she announced that 'a separate self-contained protocol for severely and acutely malnourished (SAM) children will also be issued shortly'. For this, her ministry would issue new guidelines on supplementary nutrition in the next few days. Pointing to undernutrition among expectant mothers and growing children, she said, 'We need to give minimum 1,000 calories to pregnant mothers and 600 calories to children.' The NDA Government wanted 'to improve the quality of supplementary nutrition and make the delivery system effective with change in policy,' she added. The states were felicitated for their interventions targeted at tackling under-nutrition. Ms Gandhi also released the book 'Forest Lanterns' about nourishing India’s tribal children on the occasion. Minister of State for WCD wanted that the official interventions on malnutrition should be visible at the ground level. Speaking on the ICDS and SABLA programmes under which supplementary nutrition is provided to children and adolescent girls, Dr Vinod Paul, Member, NITI Aayog, felt that the answer to undernutrition lay in 'prevention, sanitation and effective supply chain of food and nutrition' Proper nutrition must reach mother and childr, he said, adding that the food must be micronutrient fortified. NITI Ayog CEO Amitabh Kant, who highlighted the need for targeted intervention at district-level, stressed that 'real time monitoring and district-level intervention is extremely critical to fight malnutrition.' Drinking Water and Sanitation Secretary Paramesewaran Iyer expressed concern over lack of sanitation costs in India. He was of the view that through Swachh Bharat Mission was instrumental in converging all departments and trying to achieve the needed outcomes towards sanitation. While Additional Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Manoj Jhalani spoke about the importance of reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health, WCD Secretary Rakesh Srivastava addressed issues related to India’s stunting and anaemia. UNI