56,000 people in 640 villages benefit from nutrition programme organized by Adani Foundation
Ahmedabad, October 8, 2021
As many as 56,264 people in more than 640 villages across 12 states benefited from a nutrition programme organized by the Adani Foundation during Poshan Maah, observed in September every year under the Government of India’s Poshan Abhiyaan.
An all-women Adani Foundation team of over 400 community volunteers, called SuPoshan Sanginis, reached out to the beneficiaries at 14 CSR locations in India under Fortune SuPoshan, a nationwide project by Adani Wilmar.
The foundation is the philanthropic arm of the Adani Group, one of India's top business conglomerates headed by Gautam Adani.
In August 2021, the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) had announced that this year’s month-long event would be "Thematic Poshan Maah".
The entire month of September had weekly themes for a focused and assimilated approach towards improving holistic nutrition. The activities carried out under the Fortune SuPoshan project were in alignment with these weekly themes, a press release from the foundation said.
"Poshan Maah happened a time when the second wave of Covid had devastated people, adversely impacting nutrition security leading to rise in malnutrition at all levels. Outreach activities like anthropometric measurements for children below five years of age were conducted. In all, 7,699 children were screened, of which 432 (5.6%) were identified having Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) and 556 (7.2%) having Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM) across 14 locations.
"Also, indigenous nutritious recipes were promoted and Poshan Vatikaas (kitchen gardens) were developed," the release said.
As COVID cases decreased, the Fortune SuPoshan project intensified its community-based approach to deal with inter-generational malnutrition during the month of September through multiple activities involving pregnant women, lactating mothers, adolescent girls, men, family members and caretakers of children.
Among other activities, more than 1,000 saplings were planted at the household level, 575 nutri-gardens were developed, 463 cooking demonstrations using Take Home Ration (THR) and local foods were conducted, 7,138 family counselling sessions were organized for 2,630 pregnant women and lactating mothers, 3,128 adolescent girls and 1,380 families of children with SAM and MAM, 5,022 Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) demonstrations were held, and 436 Yoga sessions were conducted for 5,782 people, the release said.
Other activities included slogan writing, quizzes, healthy recipe competitions and awareness campaigns on the importance of regional foods for sustainable change. Several capacity building sessions for SuPoshan Sanginis were also held during the month.
The SuPoshan project promotes behavioural change with a focus on curbing anaemia and the intergenerational cycle of malnutrition. It targets infants (up to five years of age), adolescent girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers.
Focusing on the first 1,000 days of a child’s life, the project aims to strengthen mothers’ capacities in learning correct breastfeeding techniques, care practices, age-appropriate complimentary feeding, and food habits to prevent malnutrition from the beginning.
Established in 1996, the Adani Foundation today has widespread operations in 18 states that include 2,410 villages and towns across the country.
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