Call to make state malnutrition-free

Rajendranagar: A high-level convergence meeting was organised jointly by Dr Gyanmudra, Professor & Head, CGGPA (Centre for Good Governance & Policy Analysis), National Institute of Rural Development Panchayat Raj (NIRDPR) with key departments to augment the efforts to achieve nutritional outcomes in the state of Telangana. This meeting was attended by secretaries, heads of the departments and officials of Women and Child Development, Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Health, Education, Tribal Welfare, SERP (Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty) and UNICEF.

The meeting was chaired by Dr W R Reddy, Director General, NIRDPR, and the participants deliberated on the convergent actions required by the line departments, programmes and schemes to achieve the POSHAN Abhiyaan targets fixed for 2022.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Reddy said an advancing state like Telangana should strive to achieve beyond the set targets and eliminate malnutrition in the state by 2022. This can be achieved by initiating a grassroots action through the involvement of Panchayati Raj Institutes.

"Addressing the nutritional needs of adolescent girls with appropriate interventions is the need of the hour," said M Jagdeeshwar, Principal Secretary, Department of Women and Child Development. Furthermore, he emphasized on the need for quality data to prioritize the most needed interventions to address the issue of malnutrition.

Members of other departments shared the work that was being done in the area of nutrition.

The Department of Tribal Welfare officials shared their efforts in implementing Giri Poshana program, which focuses on how diverse food items improve the nutritional status of women and children in tribal areas. Pausami Basu, CEO, SERP, shared details about the behaviour change program that they were doing with the women in Self-Help Groups on issues of health, nutrition, sanitation and gender. Neetu Prasad, Commissioner, RD & PR, pledged her support to POSHAN Abhiyaan by ensuring participation of sarpanches in village-level programs.

Vijaya Kumar, Director, School Education, Dr Christina Z Chongthu, Commissioner of Tribal Welfare, Viziendira Boyi, Director of WCD, and Meital Rusdia, Chief of UNICEF Hyderabad, and specialists from UNICEF participated in the meeting.