Poorest Areas Civil Society (PACS) Programme in alliance with civil society organizations organizes State level Multi-stakeholder Consultation on Nutrition Interventions in Jharkhand on Saturday.
The purpose was to share experience of different stakeholders, and together build a partnership to fight under-nutrition. Johnson Topno, State Manager of PACS shared the mandate of PACS and its approach in Jharkhand emphasizing the coverage of socially excluded communities through the programme. He pointed out the rationale for a collaboration intervention on nutrition presenting the status of human development indicators which present abysmal picture of Jharkhand. He expressed that a collaborative intervention of the civil society and government is crucial to combat malnutrition in the State.
Dr Ajit Prasad, Deputy Director, NRHM shared the interventions to tackle malnutrition in the state, expressing that malnutrition is a silent emergency. He also pointed out the acuteness of malnutrition in the state referring the NFHS III data and the increasing focus of the Health Department on the same. He provided detailed information on the process of identification of SAM children through active and passive screening, functioning of MTS and their role in reduction of IMR and CMR. He also shared about the online data entry of all children and the recommendations of the study on MTC in Jharkhand.
Balram, Advisor to Commissioners of Supreme Court, highlighted the efforts of the civil society and health department for addressing malnutrition in Jharkhand. He shared the fact that malnutrition has been realized as an important issue for Jharkhand which is discussed every week at the level of likeminded CSOs. Gradually more people are getting associated in the initiative. The presence of CSOs in different areas has been mapped to expand the coverage of intervention on nutrition. He expressed satisfaction that the target of having 100 MTCs in the state would soon become a reality.
Annapurna Devi, Honorable Minister, Department of Social Welfare, emphasized on the importance of the issue (malnutrition) in context of Jharkhand. She said, “people’s ownership and participation in any development scheme/ programme is crucial for its success. Poor literacy, prevalence of traditional practices contributes to poor implementation uptake of government schemes. Here the civil society organizations have a pivotal role to play and support the initiatives.”
Dr. Jean Drez, Economist and member of National Advisory Committee, shared his views and perception on National Food Security Act 2013, he said, “ It is a step forward to reinforce other acts that focus on right to food. It is a modest act, presently viewed differently due to lack of appropriate information. The importance of such legislation in context of Jharkhand which is still a poor state and this law gives an opportunity to reaffirm the previous commitment.”