POSHAN Abhiyaan

POSHAN Abhiyaan (erstwhile National Nutrition Mission) was launched by Hon’ble Prime Minister on the occasion of the International Women’s Day on 8^th of March, 2018 from Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan; the POSHAN (Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition) Abhiyaan directs the attention of the country towards the problem of malnutrition and aims to address it in a mission-mode.

POSHAN Abhiyaan is India’s flagship programme to improve nutritional outcomes for children, adolescent girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers. Target of the Abhiyaan is to reduce stunting in children (0-6 years of age) from 38.4% to 25% by 2022.

Goals of POSHAN Abhiyaan

The goals of POSHAN Abhiyaan are to achieve improvement in nutritional status of Children from 0-6 years, pregnant Women and lactating Mothers in a time bound manner during the next three years beginning 2017-18 with targets as under:

S. No.	Objective	Target
1.	Prevent and reduce stunting in children(0-6year)	By6%@2%p.a.
2.	Prevent and reduce under-nutrition (underweight prevalence) in children(0-6years)	By6%@2%p.a.
3.	Reduce the prevalence of anemia among young Children(6-59months)	By9%@3%p.a.
4.	Reduce the prevalence of anemia among Women and Adolescent Girls in the age group of 15-49 years	By9%@3%p.a.
5.	Reduce Low Birth Weight (LBW)	By6%@2%p.a.

Nutritional Status of U.T. Chandigarh

S. No.	Objective	Target	Status (in%)		Source
			U.T. Chandigarh	India
	Prevent and reduce stunting In children (0-6years)	By 6% @2%p.a	28.7	38.4	NFHS-4 (2015-16)
	Prevent and reduce under nutrition (underweight prevalence in children 0-6years)	By 6% @2%p.a	24.5	35.7
	Reduce the prevalence of Anaemia among young  children(6-59months)	By 9% @3%p.a	73.1	58.4
	Reduce the prevalence of Anaemia among women and adolescent girls in the age group of 15-49 years	By 9% @3% p.a	75.9	55.3
	Reduce Low Birth Weight LBW	By 6% @2%p.a	10.77	N/A

         The Mission aims to reduce mal-nourishment from the Country in a phased manner, through the life cycle concept, by adopting a synergized and result oriented approach. The Mission will ensure mechanisms for timely service delivery and a robust monitoring as well as intervention infrastructure. Target of Mission is to bring down stunting of the children in the age group of 0-6 years from 38.4% to 25% by the year 2022.

POSHAN Abhiyaan Components

There are a number of areas needing attention for improving the nutritional status of targeted population i.e. infant and young child care and nutrition, infant and young child health, maternal care, adolescent nutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, care and counseling of mothers, continuum of care, community mobilization, communication and behavior change, etc. The Mission endeavors to implement these interventions through existing schemes by bringing operational efficiency through better monitoring. The Mission, in particular, intends to lay focus on some critical areas to bring better results out of the existing schemes, besides undertaking its primary role of monitoring and review of various schemes. For timely implementation and focused monitoring, a number of Components have been defined as part of the Mission.

1. Information Computers Technology Enabled Real Time Monitoring of Schemes (ICT-RTM)

About the Software Application (ICT-RTM): The ICDS-CAS has two components, namely the mobile application which is made available to the field functionaries preloaded on mobile phones and a six-tier monitoring dashboard for desktops. The procurement and distribution of mobile devices is a part of the project. The application is aimed to augment system strengthening in Anganwadi Service Delivery and looks at improving the nutrition outcomes through effective monitoring and timely intervention. The software allows the capture of data from the field on electronic devices (mobile/tablet). It enables collection of information on Anganwadi Service Delivery and its impact on nutrition outcomes of beneficiaries on a regular basis. This information is available to the States/UTs and MWCD on real time basis on web based dashboards. It is aimed to improve service delivery and also enable the Mission to effectively plan and take fact based decisions. Features of the Software Application: ICT-RTM driven by Common Application Software (ICDS-CAS) functions through a mobile Application at the level of Anganwadi Workers and Sector Supervisor and a comprehensive web based dashboard, at Block, District, State and National level, providing real time information about service delivery.

2. Community Mobilization & Behavioral Change:

The problem of malnutrition is intergenerational and is dependent on multiple factors which, inter-alia, include optimal Infant & Young Child Feeding (IYCF) practices, Immunization, Institutional Delivery, Early Childhood Development, Food Fortification, Deworming, access to safe drinking water & proper sanitation (WASH), Dietary diversification, and other related factors. Therefore, to address the problem of stunting, under-weight and wasting, especially in children, there is a need to take-up sustained efforts requiring multi-pronged approach and bring grass-root synergy and convergence.

The following activities will be included in this component.

(a) CBE for Critical milestones in the 1000 days period.

(b) IEC and advocacy to support nutrition behavior change.

(c) Jan Andolan.

Community Based Event (CBE):- Organizing community based traditional events to promote and support behaviour change to improve maternal and child nutrition is one of the methods to increase awareness and set in change Community Based Events have been initiated in all the 450 Anganwadi Centres on the following themes as prescribed by Govt. of India. More than 20,000 activities have been carried out in U.T. Chandigarh:-

• “Inviting women during the first/second trimester of   Pregnancy”
• “Annaprashan Diwas”
• “Celebrating Coming of Age-getting ready for preschool at AWC”
• “Awareness message to public on Health and Nutrition”
• “Suposhan Diwas”

Month	No. of activities	%age	Month	No. of activities	%age
June -18	1800	100%	Jan-19	900	100%
July-18	1800	100%	Feb-19	900	100%
Aug-18	2250	100%	March-19	1500	100%
Sep-18	1800	100%	April-19	900	100%
Oct-18	2250	100%	May-19 to December, 2019	@900	100%
Nov-18	450	100%	January-2020 to March, 2020	@900	100%
Dec-18	900	100%	April and May 2020	During COVID-19_Pandemic, all the AWCs have been closed w.e.f. 16.03.2020 therefore  no CBEs were conducted
June 2020 to November 2020	During COVID-19_Pandemic, virtual CBEs has been conducted through Whatsapp video calls.		December 2020	900 CBEs events are organised in small groups for short duration by following all the COVID-19 protocols
January, 2021	900		February, 2021	900
March, 2021	900

3. Incremental Learning Approach (ILA):

The National Nutrition Mission (NNM) envisages establishing a system where programme functionaries especially at field level, will become more effective by learning to plan and execute each task correctly and consistently through methodical, ongoing capacity building, called ‘incremental learning approach (ILA)’. Such a system will use opportunities in the form of existing supervisory interactions at different levels, through which practical, guided learning may be accomplished. Since the range of skills and tasks to be learnt is quite substantial, and since adults naturally learn by doing rather than through theory alone, the proposed system envisages breaking down the total learning agenda into small portions of doable actions. The approach is to build incrementally on small amounts of learning at a time, until all skills, understanding and actions have been put into regular practice, and have been internalized by the functionaries. Moreover, State /District/ Block Level Resource Groups having 45 Members have been formulated.

Training of State Resource Group: - All 21 modules have been completed as detailed below:-

S.No.	Resource Group	ILA Training
1.	State Resource Group (Module 1,2,3 & 8)	29th to 31st October, 2018
2.	District and Block Resource Group (Module 1,2,3 & 8)	28th& 29th November, 2018
3.	Sector Level Meeting for ILA Module 1 & 3	04th&  05th December, 2018
4.	Sector Level Meeting for ILA Module 2 & 8	14th& 15th December, 2018
5.	State/District/Block Resource Group training for ILA Module 4, 5 & 6	Training scheduled for 27th& 28th December, 2018.
6.	Sector Level meeting for ILA Module 4, 5 & 6	07th January 2019, 25th January 2019, 12th February 2019
7.	State/District/Block Resource Group training for ILA Module 7,9 &10	27th& 28th February 2019
8.	Sector Level meeting for ILA Module 7,9 &10	01st March, 2019 14th March 2019, 28th  March 2019
9	State/District/Block Resource Group training for ILA Module 11, 12 & 13	23.April.2019 to 24.April.2019
10	Sector Level meeting for ILA Module 11, 12 & 13	02.May.2019 10.May.2019 25.May.2019
11	State/District/Block Resource Group training for ILA Module 14, 15 & 16	25 – 26 June 2019
12	Sector Level meeting for ILA Module 14,15 & 16	06-09-2019, 25-09-2019, 11-10-2019
13	State/District/Block Resource Group training for ILA Module 17, 18 & 19	10 October 2019 and 11 October 2019
14	Sector Level meeting for ILA Module17, 18 & 19	25-10-2019, 08-11-2019 and 22-11-2019
15	State/District/Block Resource Group training for ILA Module 20 & 21	02nd December, 2019 & 03rd December, 2019
16	Sector Level meeting for ILA Module 20 & 21	13-12-2019 and 27-12-2019

4. Information, Education and Communication Supplements:

IEC activities play a very important and strategic role in the area of public health. A successful IEC plan would help in refuting myths and misunderstandings prevalent in the society and will lead to a demand for the various health services being provided, thus bringing about a behavioural change among individuals and the community at large. IEC strategy aims to create awareness and disseminate information regarding the benefits available under the various nutrition and health related government schemes and to guide the citizens on how to access them. The objective is also to encourage build-up of health seeking behaviour among the masses in keeping with the focus on promotive and preventive healthcare. The IEC strategy will cater to different needs of the rural and urban masses through the various tools used for communication. Separate funds shall be allotted for this purpose at Centre and State level. The IEC activities mostly will be done through the following methods:-

 (a) Print Media.

(b) Television.

(c) All India Radio.

(d) Social Media Campaigns.

• Printing and distribution of Suposhan Booklets, “Sunahare 1000 din” Booklet, Flipbooks for Anemia Prevention and Exclusive Breastfeeding, “YOGA Booklets” for Children, Adolescent girls, Pregnant Women and lactating Mothers.

• Printing of Pamphlets, leaflets, Brochures, Banners and Canopies on all 08 themes of POSHAN Abhiyaan, Importance of 1000 days, Awareness on prevention of Anemia, Importance of Exclusive Breastfeeding, Importance of Complementary Feeding, for promotion of services provided during Urban Health Sanitation Nutrition Day and Covered all 05 themes of Community Based Events etc.

• Prepared a CD with POSHAN Sandesh for Person’s with Hearing Impairment.

• Printed and Distributed T-shirts and Jute Bags for awareness of POSHAN Abhiyaan objectives.

• Orientation programme of all Anganwadi Workers regarding Pre Natal, Post Natal and Young child Care has been conducted at Sector level to create awareness and development of the skills of AWWs in convergence with PGIMER.

• IEC Material on Annaparashan, God Bharai, Suposhan Diwas, Health and Hygiene, Importance of 1000 Days and Growth Monitoring were distributed and displayed to impart message of Community Based Events celebrated at various stages of Women and Children to ensure their health.

• POSHAN Sahita is the moral code of Nutrition which was imposed in the Chandigarh followed by all field functionaries and beneficiaries. It contains 08 pledges related to nutrition which are being followed to have Healthy lifestyle.

To facilitate the Incremental Learning Approach among the Anganwadi Workers, Module 1 to 21 takeaways were combined & a booklet was prepared. The Takeaway Booklet will work as facilitator for Anganwadi Worker and will help for better counseling of beneficiaries.

5. Jan Andolan & Mass Media:

The Mission will focus on converting the agenda of improving nutrition into a Jan Andolan through involvement of Panchayati Raj Institutions/Villages Organizations/SHGs etc. and ensuring wide public participation.

• Mass Media Coverage have been made in U.T. Chandigarh upto grass root level by Social media access like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and WhatsApp etc. with maximum reach and coverage.
•  Regular coverage in Newspapers and Local Media Channels like India News Tricity, Times of India, The Tribune, The Hindustan Times, Amar Ujala, Dainak Jagran, Punjab Kesari and Dainik Bhaskar consecutively.

• All themes of Jan Andolan have been implemented with specific interval of time in UT Chandigarh (According to Event Calendar provided by MoWCD); in all 450 AWCs with the coverage of 5000 beneficiaries approx in every month.

• Activities conducted during POSHAN Pakhwada and POSHAN Maah is about 25000 approx; with participation of more than 10 lakhs persons during POSHAN Maah and More than 5 lakhs in POSHAN Pakhwada which resulted in Education and Awareness on Nutrition and Health to the targeted beneficiaries in U.T. Chandigarh.

Type of activities carried out for Jan Andolan (name of activities)

Nukkad Natak, Puppet Show, Folk Dance, Gidha, Garbha, Story Telling, Home Visit, Celebration of important days as per event calendar, Rangoli Making, Health Check up Camps, Rallies, Road Shows, Prabhat Pheries, Jaago, Poshan Pledge, exhibition of low cost recipes, weight and height measurements, Theme based focused lectures by experts-Anaemia, food fortification , Drawing competition, Early Child hood care & education activities, Hand wash demonstration, Distribution of Sanitary pads and hand washing material etc. 

POSHAN PAKHWADA & POSHAN MAAH

To improve nutritional outcomes for children, adolescent girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers POSHAN Pakhwada (8th to 22 March 2021) and POSHAN Maah (1st September to 30th September ) are being celebrated every year under POSHAN Abhiyaan.

In U.T. Chandigarh, POSHAN Abhiyaan "a flagship Programme" is being implemented successfully to ensure holistic physical, psychosocial, cognitive and emotional development of children under 6 years of age. The aim of the schemes is improve the nutrition and health status of children in the age group of 0-6, Pregnant Women, Nursing Mothers and Adolescent Girls. 

Since 2018, to ensure community mobilization and reinforce people's participation, POSHAN Pakhwada is being celebrated every year in the month of March across the country. Different activities like Anemia Camps, POSHAN Rallies Home Visits, POSHAN Mela, HaatBazzar, Youth Group Meetings etc. are being conducted during the fortnight campaign. More than 15 line Departments are participating enthusiastically.  To maintain the momentum and capitalize the gains of these events. POSHAN Pakhwada has also been celebrated this year also from 16th to 31st March 2021 in convergence with line departments.

Rashtriya POSHAN Maah and POSHAN Pakhwada as a part of Jan Andolan: Total 1,18,508  activities were conducted on the themes of Jan Andolan in convergence with line Departments of U.T. Chandigarh covering approximately 26, 72, 292  beneficiaries in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021.

Human Resource and Organizational Structure at State, District and Block level of U.T. Chandigarh (As on 31.03.2021).

State Project Management Unit		(Human Resource)
S.No	Post	Sanctioned	Filled	Vacant
1	State Project Director	01	01	00
2	Joint Project Coordinator	01	01	00
3	Consultants	05	02*	03
4	Accountant	01	01	00
5	Project Associate	01	01	00
6	Secretarial Assistant/DEO	02	02	00
7	Office Messenger/Peons	02	02	00
District Level Helpdesk		(Human Resource)
S.No	Post	Sanctioned	Filled	Vacant
1	District Coordinator	01	01	00
2	District Project Assistant	01	01*	00
Block Level Helpdesk		(Human  Resource)
S.No	Post	Sanctioned	Filled	Vacant
1	Block Coordinator	03	02	01
2	Block  Project Assistant	03	02	01

 

* The process for filling up the posts have been initiated and will be filled soon.

POSHAN Awards-2018

The Ministry of Women and Child Development, Govt. of India, New Delhi organized POSHAN Maah Award Ceremony on 10.10.2018 and U.T. Chandigarh was Awarded with eight State Level Awards (Individual as well as State Level Category).

POSHAN Awards-2019

The Department of Social Welfare, Chandigarh Administration  has bagged 1^st Position and awarded with Excellence Awards : at National Level and Field level in the Incentive Based Awards Ceremony  held by the Ministry of Women and Child Development at New Delhi on 23^rd August, 2019    as detailed below:-

Excellence Awards at National Level

        Excellence Awards                                                  Incentive Awarded

1. ICDS-CAS Implementation - 1^st Position-                           Rs. 1.0 crore
2. Overall Excellence in Implementation - 1^st Position -          Rs.1.5 crore

Field Level Leadership Awards (at National Level)

3. Best Block Level Leadership Awards-   Certificate and Medal
4. AAAA & LS (AWW, AWH, ASHA, ANM & LS)   -   Rs. 2.0 lakh

Best Practices Under POSHAN Abhiyaan

1. "AMRIT" Campaign (Acute Malnutrition Removal  SAM follow-up booklet) & SAM Card- POSHAN Mulayankan

              For the management and monitoring of SAM/MAM Children of the Anganwadi Centres AMRIT" Campaign (Acute Malnutrition Removal  SAM follow-up booklet) & SAM Card- POSHAN Mulayankan was launched on basis of 03 intervention strategies:-

• Bio fortified wheat products (NABI) plus standard nutrition
• Nutrition therapy (RUTF) plus standard nutrition and monitoring Standard Nutrition therapy
• Intensive nutrition counselling and handholding of the family.

This campaign helps in Early Identification and tracking of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) Children, Early initiation of treatment and minimizing the risk of complications in later stage.  To mobilize this campaign, the SAM Card- POSHAN Mulayankan has been developed by the department for regular follow up of the Severely Acute Malnutrition children. The POSHAN Mulyankan Cards will be issued to such children by the Anganwadi Workers, aiming at early initiation of treatment for improving health and undertaking immediate action to minimize the risk of complications in later stages.

2. Launch of a Recipe Booklet ("POSHAN Sutra" – AaharPustika)

            This booklet includes nutrition needs for Infancy, children, adolescents, pregnancy and lactation, adult man and woman and old age including special dietary requirements is included in the booklet.

Nutritious Recipe Booklet-"POSHAN Sutra-AaharPustika", which helps the families to introduce nutrition rich diets through intensive nutrition counseling. It includes 50 Nutritious Recipes of Meals, Snacks and desserts ensuring the importance of Millets.

3. POSHAN On Wheels

            During Pandemic, the Mobile Anganwadi Vans “POSHAN on Wheels” have worked day and night, on the toes to fight with COVID 19 to serve the society by not only covered beneficiaries at Construction Site and slums areas but also by distributed cooked food in all around Chandigarh. The Department of Social welfare in convergence with Department of Food & Supplies , SDMs , Department of Police and NGOs , have  distributed Cooked Food/ Dry Ration  and  trying to fulfill the basic needs of needy persons. The Mobile Vans served the Society by providing food to approx. 2000 to 2500 needy people on daily basis continuously from 26th March, 2020 onwards.

4. Development of POSHAN Vatika

            Total 33 Kitchen Gardens have also been established in various AWCs for promoting the values of nutritional Food among the general public.

5. Ann se AMRIT

“Ann se AMRIT” campaign was launched by Hon’ble Sh. V.P. Singh Badnore, Administrator, U.T. Chandigarh and Governor of Punjab on 16.03.2021 at Raj Bhawan, Sector 6, Chandigarhwith a vision to eradicate malnutrition from our country to build a Strong and Healthy Nation.

            To improve the health status of Severely Acute Malnourished (SAM) Children, Department of Social Welfare, Women and Child Development has collaborated with National Agri-Bio Technology Institute (NABI) to provide Anthocyanin Biofortified Black Colored Wheat developed at NABI, Biscuits and porridge to all the SAM Children. Black Wheat is highly rich in natural anti-oxidants, Iron, Zinc having goodness of natural fruits, Dietary fibres, Minerals and Vitamins to improve their health and fill important Nutritions in their diet.

6. Child Assessment Card

Child Assessment Card was launchedby Hon’ble Sh. V.P. Singh Badnore, Administrator, U.T. Chandigarh and Governor of Punjabon 16th March, 2021 at Raj Bhawan, Sector 6, Chandigarh with a vision to monitor the developmental milestones of all Children in the age group of 0-5 years.  Child Assessment Card was launched to help Anganwadi Workers to keep the track of the health and development of these children and note any improvement or need for further improvement. The Anganwadi workers shall visit these children and fill these cards, which is mandatory under the campaign.

7. Launching of  toll free POSHAN helpline number 180018002244:

For Suvidha, Shikayat and Sujhav for Anganwadi Services and POSHAN during all working days. During POSHAN Maah, a toll free POSHAN helpline number was launched by the Hon’ble Governor of Punjab and Administrator of Chandigarh Sh. V.P. Singh Badnore at Chandigarh Poshan Mahotsav on dated 6th September 2019. The citizens of Chandigarh are now be able to book home visits by Anganwadi Workers by calling on this number. Many residents of Chandigarh took advantage of this initiative and number of calls were received on this Helpline.

As this helpline is based on Suvidha-Sujhav-Shikayat, this facility also deals with an option to report any complaint regarding any Anganwadi service provider and also giving their suggestions to improve the welfare delivery under Anganwadi Services.

8. Mission –"Anemia free Chandigarh“

T3 campaign launched based on 6x6x6 strategy i.e. 6 beneficiaries, 6 interventions and 6 institutional services in convergence with PGIMER. To combat the menace of widespread Anemia in the city beautiful, Chandigarh, Hon’ble Sh. V.P. Singh Badnore, Administrator, U.T. Chandigarh and Governor of Punjab launched the Mission –"Anemia free Chandigarh"on 06th September, 2019 during Chandigarh POSHAN Mahotsav- POSHAN Maah-2019.

To achieve the target of this Mission, 6x6x6 strategy i.e. 6 beneficiaries, 6 interventions and 6 institutional services is being adopted with special drives of Anemia T3 Campaign i.e. Test, Treat and Talk by using Digital Haemoglobinometers by the Department of Social Welfare in convergence with Department of Health and PGIMER. To facilitate these campaigns 06 Digital Haemoglobinometers have been procured.

          During POSHAN Maah, many camps were held as a part of Anemia T3 campaign i.e. Test, Treat and Talk.