Working towards the lack of adequate nutrition, The Pioneer brings to you the Nourishing Schools Foundation, aimed at eradicating malnutrition and hunger,
this week for Community Wise.
this week for Community Wise.
SHIKHA DUGGAL
Highlighting malnutrition in children, Archana Sinha, the co-founder of the Nourishing Schools Foundation, took this as a significant challenge that we face and have been facing for decades. The issue affects over 43 lakh children in the country, leading to numerous chronic health issues and thereby adversely affecting the overall health of the nation.
The lack of adequate nutrition—beginning from prenatal development until adolescence—among different socio-economic groups contributes to an exhausting cycle of a weak immune system, fatigue, poor growth, and poor concentration, which could be further worsened by ailments like heart disease, diabetes, or certain cancers. To bring this important topic to a wider audience, we touched on the tangents of unlocking malnutrition’s community potential with the foundation’s co-founder, of course. In fact, Union Minister of Women and Child Development Smriti Irani launched the first-ever protocol for the identification and management of malnutrition in
children. So why not tackle it at the grassroots too?
“Every second, an Indian adolescent is either too short, too thin, or overweight or obese. Consistent collective efforts over the past couple of decades have significantly reduced the infant mortality rate. However, we still lag in several aspects of socio-economic development. Nutrition is an integral part of a child’s well-being, contributing vastly to their development. Lack of minerals like iron and vitamins B-12 and folate could result in the occurrence of nutrition-related anemia. For a country to ensure the elimination of malnutrition, it is imperative to address the structural gaps in the nutrition domain to improve the health of children and adults alike, thereby promoting a healthier society, and that’s what the foundation is doing,” she informed.
Even the food experts emphasised the need to focus more on tackling this hidden hunger that undermines people’s health. The co-founder continues, “Although governments at all levels and us are determined to tackle malnutrition, poverty, and hunger in the country, the private sector also plays a vital role in setting the tone for a better future by contributing significantly through corporate social responsibility. This remains one of the most overlooked financial resources, which, if employed correctly, could significantly accelerate the war against malnutrition. Although some of the most significant contributors effectively aimed to eradicate malnutrition and hunger in collaboration with us and the government, there remains a drastic gap in the efforts required to solve malnutrition.”
One key component that is missing is the nutritional aspect of it, so eating enough rice and wheat is not enough for a healthy life. We have that issue in the country, and those are the issues that the country should be focusing on in the future, on the sidelines of another aspect. Including, “While the central government undoubtedly works towards promoting nutrition and raising awareness about the hazards of malnutrition, the corporate sector can play a pivotal role in accelerating the war against malnutrition and diseases, which could guarantee a healthier potential workforce. To begin with, a working group can be constituted to study structural challenges that may be leading to a lower prioritisation of funding for malnutrition. Access to information and data that can ease decision-making can also play a key role, where state governments can collaborate with the central government in creating a centralised portal on malnutrition that consolidates data on the malnutrition profile, along with recommendations of broad areas in which corporations can intervene and a listing of non-government organisations working in those specific domains along with their impact data. This can build on the efforts already being made through the Poshan Tracker to encourage dynamic identification of undernourished
children and last-mile tracking of nutrition service delivery.”
Highlighting malnutrition in children, Archana Sinha, the co-founder of the Nourishing Schools Foundation, took this as a significant challenge that we face and have been facing for decades. The issue affects over 43 lakh children in the country, leading to numerous chronic health issues and thereby adversely affecting the overall health of the nation.
The lack of adequate nutrition—beginning from prenatal development until adolescence—among different socio-economic groups contributes to an exhausting cycle of a weak immune system, fatigue, poor growth, and poor concentration, which could be further worsened by ailments like heart disease, diabetes, or certain cancers. To bring this important topic to a wider audience, we touched on the tangents of unlocking malnutrition’s community potential with the foundation’s co-founder, of course. In fact, Union Minister of Women and Child Development Smriti Irani launched the first-ever protocol for the identification and management of malnutrition in
children. So why not tackle it at the grassroots too?
“Every second, an Indian adolescent is either too short, too thin, or overweight or obese. Consistent collective efforts over the past couple of decades have significantly reduced the infant mortality rate. However, we still lag in several aspects of socio-economic development. Nutrition is an integral part of a child’s well-being, contributing vastly to their development. Lack of minerals like iron and vitamins B-12 and folate could result in the occurrence of nutrition-related anemia. For a country to ensure the elimination of malnutrition, it is imperative to address the structural gaps in the nutrition domain to improve the health of children and adults alike, thereby promoting a healthier society, and that’s what the foundation is doing,” she informed.
Even the food experts emphasised the need to focus more on tackling this hidden hunger that undermines people’s health. The co-founder continues, “Although governments at all levels and us are determined to tackle malnutrition, poverty, and hunger in the country, the private sector also plays a vital role in setting the tone for a better future by contributing significantly through corporate social responsibility. This remains one of the most overlooked financial resources, which, if employed correctly, could significantly accelerate the war against malnutrition. Although some of the most significant contributors effectively aimed to eradicate malnutrition and hunger in collaboration with us and the government, there remains a drastic gap in the efforts required to solve malnutrition.”
One key component that is missing is the nutritional aspect of it, so eating enough rice and wheat is not enough for a healthy life. We have that issue in the country, and those are the issues that the country should be focusing on in the future, on the sidelines of another aspect. Including, “While the central government undoubtedly works towards promoting nutrition and raising awareness about the hazards of malnutrition, the corporate sector can play a pivotal role in accelerating the war against malnutrition and diseases, which could guarantee a healthier potential workforce. To begin with, a working group can be constituted to study structural challenges that may be leading to a lower prioritisation of funding for malnutrition. Access to information and data that can ease decision-making can also play a key role, where state governments can collaborate with the central government in creating a centralised portal on malnutrition that consolidates data on the malnutrition profile, along with recommendations of broad areas in which corporations can intervene and a listing of non-government organisations working in those specific domains along with their impact data. This can build on the efforts already being made through the Poshan Tracker to encourage dynamic identification of undernourished
children and last-mile tracking of nutrition service delivery.”
