News Excerpt:
Recent issues like - Malnutrition and hunger make individuals more susceptible to diseases and affect their productivity, income and quality of life, even as poverty limits people’s access to safe and nutritious food.
About:
- Poshan 2.0 focuses on raising awareness about the importance of nutrition and promoting healthy eating habits by sensitizing and mobilizing communities and individuals.
- Although it is not an easy task, India needs to navigate through current global challenges and update accordingly.
- Poshan Abhiyan is a key component of Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0.
- An important focus has therefore been on ‘Behaviour Change Communication’ or BCC to address inadequate and inappropriate infant and young child feeding practices, nutrition and care during pregnancy and adolescence.
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POSHAN 2.0
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Indian Scenario:
- Despite these formidable challenges, India has reshaped, reoriented and reimagined its nutrition landscape, with policies and programmes that focus on the first 1,000 days of life, from conception till two years of age (Early Childhood Care).
- The Joint Child Malnutrition estimates report for 2023 shows a decline in India’s share of the global burden of stunting, from 30% to 25%, over the last decade.
Global Scenario:
- Globally, an estimated 148 million children are suffering from stunted growth, 45 million children are affected by wasting and almost 38 million are overweight.
- Approximately 735 million people, that is 9% of the world’s population, are experiencing chronic hunger, and over 2 billion people are facing moderate to severe food insecurity.
- This challenge is compounded by the impact of global crises like the covid pandemic that set back progress on SDGs, climate change and its impact on land, soil and food sources, and on vulnerable populations, including children, the consequences of rapid urbanization and migration, and humanitarian crises arising from war and civil strife.
Conclusion:
In pursuit of zero hunger, the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal No. 2 (SDG 2) is fundamental to achieving other SDGs, especially the first and the third goals, which aim to end poverty and safeguard the health of people. Therefore, concerted policy efforts are needed even as the country implements existing schemes to ensure nobody is left undernourished.
