During these difficult times, with all eyes trained on the pandemic, other urgent health concerns have taken a backseat. What's more, the pandemic itself has exacerbated the already existing health issues. India has made strides in addressing malnutrition-related deaths in children and in improving nutrition markers – but how do we make sure concerns around food and nutrition security during the pandemic do not impact those who need it the most?
FIT & Global Health Strategies put together a webinar – "Justice on our plates: Reimagining India's Fight Against Malnutrition" – on 7 August, where FIT's Editor Vaishali Sood discussed solutions on how to tackle the question of nutrition security in the midst of a pandemic with a panel of nutrition experts.
Dr Alok Ranjan, nutrition lead, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, spoke about integrating and streamlining nutrition specific and nutrition sensitive strategies to effectively tackle malnutrition. He also spoke about learnings from the pandemic to improve our nutrition markers as we move ahead - hand washing, eating better, hygiene, taking care of our nutrition and health. He also spoke about focusing on local nutrition rich food.
A similar sentiment was shared by Dr R Hemalatha, Director, ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition, as she emphasised the need for adapting a healthy diet at all levels to tackle the biggest disease burden from non communicable diseases like heart disease, diabetes and cancer. She spoke about going beyond the 1000 day programme when it comes to nutrition in children and expanding it to before conception. Nutrition deficiency during pregnancy can have a live long impact on the life of a child. She pointed out to a need for a gendered perspective to nutrition - women and girls are impacted disproportionately.
A theme that Rasmi Avula, senior research fellow from International Food Policy Research Institute, also spoke about. She talked about expanding and overhauling the Integrated Child Development Scheme, a programme that has been on for over 4 decades, to address the current needs of malnutrition and ensuing even access across the country. She also spoke about using technology and data to empower frontline workers like ASHAs, Anwangadi workers and Anganwadi Helpers.
Arjan De Wagt, Nutrition Chief, Unicef India, spoke about the hidden victims of the pandemic, the children, and how the worry that all the process made over the years to address malnutrition in children might be impacted, further pushing the nutrition targets India had set itself for 2022.
He spoke about how a range of stakeholders working on nutrition in India, have joined forces to ensure that a strong focus is maintained on nutrition during these unprecedented times and the commitment to action they'd agreed on. You can read more about these agreements here.
Finally, Dr Ambrish Mithal, a renowned endocrinologist with Max Hospitals, spoke about nutrition deficiencies and the magic wand that is micronutrients. Micronutrients are just not talked about enough, and the lack of these essential minerals and vitamins can lead to lifetime of health issues. He spoke about India's success story with iodine fortification and the need to come up with a robust food fortification plan with focus on iodine, vitamin B12, A and D, Zinc and other micronutrients.
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