“Nutrition for all: Together towards a healthy India” was the theme of this year’s Poshan Pakhwada 2023. It is an effort of the Ministry of Women & Child Development to raise awareness about the importance of nutrition and promote healthy eating habits through people’s movement and participation.

This year, from March 20th to April 3rd, 2023, the focus was to popularise ‘Shree Anna,’ the mother of all grains, as a valuable asset to address malnutrition. The theme promoted three-fold objectives: creating awareness of millets for nutritional well-being, celebrating healthy childhood, and popularising Saksham Angangwadi (Model Angangwadi).

The global programme in Bihar, with its focus on food and nutrition security, has observed Poshan Pakhwada in all five partner locations: Kaimur, Saharsa, Madhepura, Purnea, and Munger. Several community engagement activities were organised in villages with the support of anganwadis and schools to celebrate Poshan Pakhwada. Engagement Interventions on nutrition ranged from increased awareness of good nutrition practises and behaviours to outreach campaigns on the WASH component, a 1000-day window of opportunity, growth monitoring of children, and home visits to newborn babies.

Gaining weight is a positive sign that the child is healthy and growing well. Every child should have a growth chart to track their physical development. If the child is underweight or overweight, it is important to examine the child’s diet and provide nutritious food to the child. Under the Global Programme, anthropometric tools were provided to the Anganwadi centres in the programme areas for the early recognition of malnutrition and the implementation of required corrective measures. The support aligns with the Nutrition and Food Security goals of the Global Programme to minimise MAM/SAM cases and underweight in its programme areas.

The team has distributed 50 infantometers, 44 stadiometers, 50 child weighing machines, and 55 adult weighing machines in 60 anganwadi centres in Purnea, Sharsha, Kaimur, and Patna districts. The programme also raised awareness of the International Year of Millet and promoted millet consumption and inclusion in the day-to-day diet. In Sharsha, a small exhibition has been organised by the PGVS team to showcase different types of millets that are available locally.

The Poshan Pakhwada 2023 also witnessed some additional activities like a home visit to mothers, sharing about the 1000-day window of opportunity, WASH awareness and competition with school-going children, behaviour change communication, the leverage of a socio-cultural platform for infant and young child feeding practises, and the establishment of Poshan Vatika to ensure nutrition sufficiency at the household level.

The fifth Poshan Pakhwada 2023 was joyfully celebrated in the global programme areas with the support of stakeholders from the meso-level Child Development Project Officer, Lady Supervisor, ANM, ASHA, and UNICEF district team.