India’s Fight Against Anaemia: Poshan Maah 2023 Highlights
New Delhi, India – The Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) is focusing on anaemia during this year’s Poshan Maah. Anaemia is a health concern that mainly affects young children, adolescent girls, pregnant and postpartum women, and women of reproductive age.
The ministry stated that adolescence is a crucial period to address nutritional deficiencies to prevent the intergenerational effects of anaemia. To highlight the importance of this issue, the ministry has collaborated with other relevant ministries and departments to conduct dedicated anaemia-related activities.
In the last Poshan Maah held in September 2023, over 35 crore sensitisation activities were reported, with around 4 crore focused on anaemia. The initiative reached 69 lakh pregnant women, 43 lakh lactating mothers, and more than 22 lakh adolescent girls (14-18 years) under the Scheme for Adolescent Girls (SAG) across Aspirational Districts and the North-East Region.
With a strong direct presence of over 10 crore beneficiaries and their families, the initiative aims to reach every corner of the nation twice annually through nutrition-centric Jan Andolans. Engaging adolescent girls is seen as a key strategy to accelerate efforts towards a malnutrition-free India, supporting the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare’s Anaemia Mukt Bharat programme.
Doubts Revealed
Anaemia -: Anaemia is a condition where a person doesn’t have enough healthy red blood cells to carry oxygen to the body’s tissues. This can make people feel very tired and weak.
Poshan Maah -: Poshan Maah is a month-long event in India focused on nutrition and health. ‘Poshan’ means nutrition, and ‘Maah’ means month in Hindi.
Ministry of Women and Child Development -: This is a part of the Indian government that works to improve the lives of women and children in the country. They create and manage programs to help with health, education, and safety.
Adolescent girls -: Adolescent girls are girls who are in their teenage years, usually between 13 and 19 years old.
Pregnant and postpartum women -: Pregnant women are those who are expecting a baby, and postpartum women are those who have recently given birth.
35 crore -: In India, a crore is a unit of measurement equal to 10 million. So, 35 crore means 350 million.
Sensitisation activities -: These are activities designed to make people more aware and informed about a particular issue, like anaemia, so they can take action to improve their health.
Lactating mothers -: Lactating mothers are women who are currently breastfeeding their babies.
Anaemia Mukt Bharat programme -: This is a program by the Indian government aimed at reducing anaemia in the country. ‘Mukt’ means free, so it means ‘Anaemia-Free India’.
Malnutrition-free India -: Malnutrition means not getting enough nutrients from food. A malnutrition-free India means everyone in the country gets enough healthy food to eat.