Around 100 community radio stations to spread awareness about National Nutrition Mission in September

New Delhi: Around 100 community radio stations have been taken on board to spread awareness about ‘Poshan Abhiyan’, which aims to bridge the nutrition gap and reduce stunting of children, a Women and Child Development Ministry official has said. [caption id=“attachment_4201429” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP[/caption] ‘Poshan Abhiyan’, also called National Nutrition Mission, aims to bring down stunting of children in the age group of 0-6 years from 38.4 percent to 25 percent by 2022. “As part of a well thought out implementation strategy, community radio stations have been for the first time taken on board for spreading the message of the mission during the month of September, declared as ‘Poshan Maah’ (nutrition month),” she said. As many as 42 radio stations will mentor other community radio stations so that in September around 100 community radio stations would start disseminating messages on the eight themes of the mission, the official said. This is for the first time that community radio stations have been taken on board for a national mission, she said. The eight themes of the National Nutrition Mission are antenatal, optimal breast feeding, complimentary feeding, anaemia, growth monitoring, hygiene and sanitation, food fortification and girl’s education, diet and marriage at right age. “The effort is to synergise efforts and create a movement. There are a number of community-based events at the local level to create awareness and knowledge on malnutrition,” the official said. Poshan Abhiyan also aims to ensure convergence of all nutrition-related schemes and provide performance-based incentives to states and community nutrition and health workers, facilitating a focus on results. The government had last month decided to observe every September as the National Nutrition Month to mark the country’s fight against malnutrition.