Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Feb 6: “Nutrition-related issues have become a cause of concern across the world, and there is an urgent need for collective and correlative efforts from all quarters. Everyone should be aware of the need for better nutrition,” urged Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at a programme held to discuss the findings of a global nutrition report here Friday.
The co-author of the global nutrition report – Lawrence Haddad – had made several recommendations to the state government on improving nutritional statistics such as inclusive leadership, community-level participation and an all-round performance from several quarters.
“Orissa is thriving for improvement for which an all-round cooperative effort is needed. The global nutrition report aims to contribute to country-led efforts to strengthen accountability, share learning on what measures are working and highlight bottlenecks to progress and how they can be overcome,” said Lawrence.
New preliminary data from the state suggests there is vast scope for improvement in the field of malnutrition. While cases of stunting among children under the age of five may have declined by a huge number, much still needs to be done in the state to address concerns on sanitation and other underlying factors for malnutrition, experts said.
“Our government has provided and will continue to provide enabling investment that is required to reduce both the prevalence and incidence of under-nutrition in the state with support from partners,” the Chief Minister said.
“The state is implementing various programmes that support better nutrition to children, adolescents, pregnant women and lactating mothers. Besides, we are holistically focusing on health and nutrition across life-cycle for addressing the micro and macro nutrient needs,” said Patnaik.
Revisiting the day’s agenda, health and family welfare department secretary Arti Ahuja said the global nutrition report will go a long way towards helping the state rearrange its goals and objectives in addressing malnutrition. “Data played a pivotal part in improving certain statistics. I am happy that the global nutrition report has been released here in Orissa. This will certainly help improve the nutritional statistics of the state,” said Ahuja.
“In order to deal with the issues of women and child health, the state has launched various social awareness programmes through self-help groups, community-level management, Shakti Varta and more. We are committed to dealing with nutritional issues, particularly those of the vulnerable,” said Usha Devi, women and child development minister.
The one-day discussion programme was attended by various national, international and local non-governmental organisations, officials of the health and family welfare and women and child development departments among others.
