NOURISH TO FLOURISH-REDUCING MALNUTRITION

Team Members

Samskruthi Reddy

Apoorva Ganthi

Kolluru Sneha

S Pavani

Apoorva Reddy

One in every three malnourished children lives in India

According to a UNICEF report on

child malnutrition, it is found that

India is home for 61 percent stunted

children under 5 and 38 percent of all

stunted children in the world.

Problems causing Malnourishment

Factors causing Malnutrition

1.Inavailability of nutritious food

Malnourishment is prevailing in many sections

of society due socio-economic factors and

ignorance

2.Lack of education

Malnutrition is higher among kids whose

mothers are uneducated or have less than 5

years of education.

3.Inefficiency of Public distribution system

This is due to poor transport infrastructure and

poor ID mechanisms

Use of fortified food and conducting awareness

campaigns provides a solution to reduce Malnourishment

Solutions can be classified depending on

the foresight of results as:

Short term solutions

1. Regional centers to create

awareness about malnutrition

2. Training unemployed people about

effects and solutions of

malnutrition and employing them

in the above centers

3. Providing vitamin supplements to

the people affected by malnutrition

through these centers.

4. Inspection in schools through

medical practitioners and giving

proper supplements

Long term solutions

1.Providing Peanuts+Jaggery bars(chikki)

to school students

2.Making the Fortified buttermilk

available at low cost

3.Making of kichidi(cooked rice along

with vegetables) making as a part of

the mid-day meals

4.Making of porridge from finger millets

also known as KOOZH

5.Providing vitamin supplements and

fortified food to pregnant and lactating

women.

SHORT TERM SOLUTIONS

1.Creating centers in existing primary health centers and appointing medical

practitioners and volunteers after being trained to spread awareness about

malnutrition

2.As we know poverty is one of the factors for malnutrition , creating employing

opportunities help in eradicating it . unemployed persons are recruited and

trained sufficiently to work in the centers for malnutrition awareness

3.These centers’ main function is to spread awareness and also giving sufficient

supplements in case of people with malnutrition

4.As we know majority of malnutrition in India is in children , measures are to be

taken to decrease the cases of malnutrition. To eradicate

Schools must be inspected regularly by medical professionals

vitamin supplements must be provided to students who are affected with

malnutrition

students must be made aware of the consequences of malnutrition and how

hazardous it can be.

PEANUT JAGGERY BARS

Peanuts are known for their

nutrition values and for protein

content

Jaggery is known for the iron and

calcium contents

Use of peanut and jaggery in

making bars is economical and

very healthy and it helps in

eradicating malnutrition

Peanuts consists of vitamins of b

complex like thiamine riboflavin

etc and proteins and amino acids.1

Cost of 1kg is nearly INR 300

Schools must be supplied with this

at low cost so that every student

should have it everyday

Students are given a bar of 4X2 cm

every two days

Even the regional centers are to be

supplied with these bars so that

they may be provided to people

with malnutrition

FORTIFIED BUTTER MILK

Buttermilk being a milk product is

rich in calcium

By fortifying buttermilk ,

eradication of malnutrition is more

effective

Malt made from sorghum and

millets are to be mixed with butter

milk. This helps in improvement

of nutrition values

Schools are made to provide this

to students and also should be

available in regional centers

By making this available to

everyone malnutrition can be

tackled

Millets are rich in energy , iron

and vitamin b complex

Sorghum is also rich in energy and

iron

This can be made at a very low

cost of INR 5

MID-DAY MEALS

As we know our government has

started a innovative approach to

tackle malnutrition that is mid-day

meals

But these mid-day meals are not

effective in their function and they

have failed to eradicate

malnutrition in many cases

The main reason for the failure is

due to negligence and corruption

of authorities

This can be solved by maintaining

transparency and involving other

volunteers in it

By making khichidi that is

vegetables cooked along with rice

we could make sure that the proper

nutrient supplements are given

Using brown rice instead of rice is

also a better option as it is more

nutritious

Introducing Koozh which is made

from finger millets is also helpful

AWARENESS AMONG PREGNANT AND

LACTATING WOMEN

Malnutrition during pregnancy and

lactation puts the life of the mother

and the child in danger

Anaemia during pregnancy is

dangerous and may lead to death

The child is born underweight and

is weak. On a long run the child is

prone to many diseases .

So pregnant and lactating women

are educated about malnutrition

and its effects for the safety of her

and her child

92% of the women state that they

don’t know about malnutrition. So

awareness must be spread

Women are to be given vitamin

supplements and proper care must

be taken

Breastfeeding must be encouraged

for preventing malnutrition

IMPROVISING THE PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION

SYSTEM

In India, it is difficult to know who

is getting benefits hence proper ID

mechanisms can help create nation

wide identification

There is no proper transportation

and infrastructure, hence better

roads and railways is the key

solution

GDP per capita is $1000/person

which is very small, hence proper

awareness must be created among

the people

The awareness can be created

through counters in primary

healthcare centers wherein the

volunteers must be employed to

spread awareness

The primary healthcare centers

population coverage is around

30,000 in plain areas and 20,000 in

hilly areas, hence at least 500

volunteers for total population

coverage taking 1 volunteer for a

group of 100 people, are required

CHALLENGES AND PROBLEMS

With out transparency in the

activities of authorities it is

difficult to achieve

Due to ignorance many people try

to avoid taking vitamin

supplements by thinking that it is

harmful to health

Allergy to peanut can be seen in

some individuals

Butter milk must be pure without

adulteration

Water used for cooking in

Mid-day meals must be clean

TO TACKLE THESE

PROBLEMS

Awareness must be created among

people about malnutrition and they

should be encouraged to take

vitamin supplements

Sanitation must be taken care of

and cleanliness must be

maintained

previous records of allergy must be

noted and first usage of peanut

must be under supervision

References

http://filipspagnoli.wordpress.com/stats-on-human-rights/statistics-on-

poverty/statistics-on-hunger/

http://challengedkidsinternational.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/figure-3-

article-3.jpg

http://apps.who.int/nutrition/landscape/report.aspx?iso=ind

http://southasiainvestor.blogspot.in/2010/03/creative-solutions-for-

child.html