Mothers' group to battle malnutrition

AHMEDABAD: Despite being one of the most economically developed states in India, Gujarat has an undernutrition rate of 47 per cent.
To address this issue, voluntary organization Chetna held a workshop on Tuesday to bring awareness and empowerment and develop a mother's group (matru mandal). The workshop was aimed at generating a collective awareness about malnutrition.
The workshop highlighted the limitations of public distribution system, the efforts made by Anna Suraksha Abhiyan for food security in Gujarat and focused on the planning strategy for ensuring optimal nutrition for pregnant women, nursing mothers and children between the ages of 0-2 years.
Nutritional challenges for mothers and children were discussed with members of the society, representatives from other voluntary organizations like SEWA, and government institutions. The participants shared their experiences and came out with possible avenues for suitable intervention in Gujarat.
Indu Capoor, director of Chetna and a senior nutritionist said, "We were keen to highlight the fact that there should be NGOs who can work in the field. We wanted to generate awareness and get feedback from the grassroots workers."
"The awareness is different for everybody. Everybody should understand that malnutrition is a serious issue. We are now sure that generating awareness is one way to deal with these issues", said V N Maira from Chetna.
"It is a very good initiative and we experienced a very positive attitude in the workshop towards implementing policies on malnutrition. I felt very good to be part of this move," said Hansa Parekh, 35, a member of an NGO, who has travelled all the way from Rajasthan to attend the meet. "Care in womb is essential for both mother and child to be healthy," said Dr. Ashwin Shah from child health and nutrition department. The meet ended with recommendations to strengthen implementation of nutrition policies.