Chief Minister Raman Singh on Tuesday announced that the State Government would select best performing panchayats, blocks and districts in the field of nutrition in the State and said he would write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about them for considering awards.
He also reiterated the need for participation of the community-level workers and members in addressing the issue.
“Our real challenge is to ensure that future generations are not weak but strong, the Government is responsible and accountable and we cannot fail as malnutrition is irreversible,” he said while addressing a Consultation on Nutrition organised by Unicef, in collaboration with the State Planning Commission here on Tuesday.
Singh said the health of mothers in the State was the key to achieving Millennium Development Goals and reducing malnutrition.
While appreciating the efforts of the departments concerned in reducing malnutrition, he said the implementation of the schemes and programmes needed to be focussed, and called for interdepartmental coordination while addressing malnutrition in the State.
Singh also expressed concern over the lack of awareness on the importance of nutrition in mothers, children and adolescent girls.
He also shared the importance of sanitation and hygiene in reducing the prevalence of malnutrition and expressed the need to take up malnutrition on the lines of the Swachh Bharat Mission and appreciate the efforts of the community members to reduce malnutrition at Panchayat level.
The State Planning Commission and Unicef had jointly organised the Consultation to share experiences of the States, which have excelled in addressing malnutrition and experts to share recommendations with the Government keeping the best practices across the country to address malnutrition.
louis Georges Arsenault, Representative, Unicef India shared that chronic undernutrition causes serious stunting for a lifetime and it is irreversible, putting children at risk.
He said undernutrition was the cause of 45 per cent of the child mortality and advocated for right nutrients at the right time in adequate amount, which was sufficient to reduce stunting and he also stressed the need to adopt a mission approach to address malnutrition in the State.
While speaking on the occasion, Sunil Kumar, Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission, Chhattisgarh said political will, policy stability and adequate resources were key to development along with active participation by the community members at the panchayat level and that it was commendable that in a recent radio message, the Chief Minister had indicated the challenge of malnutrition as the foremost challenge of governance.
Appreciating the existing schemes like Nawa Jatan and Phulwari, which address malnutrition in the state, Prasanta Dash, Chief of Field Office of Unicef said reaching 90 per cent of the population was key to address malnutrition in the State.
Focus on maternal nutrition and interdepartmental coordination are imperative to address malnutrition, added Prasanta.
While elaborating on the complexity of the issue of malnutrition, Dinesh Shrivastva, Secretary, Development of Women and Child Department, said that causes of malnutrition can be traced to the adolescent girl and it is a cycle.
He said that SABlA broke the cycle by reaching out to girls across 27 districts and Chhattisgarh is the first state to attain 100 per cent coverage, ensuring healthy and nutritious lives.
Shrivastava shared the commendable efforts of the department in addressing malnutrition in the State, such as Nawa Jatan and Wyajan Tyohar.
PP Soti, Member of Planning Commission, welcomed and introduced the distinguished guests and shared the objective and purpose of the consultation.
The sessions during the consultation were chaired by Parasuraman, Director of Tata Institute of Social Sciences and N C Saxena, retired bureaucrat and advisor to Unicef.