Malnutrition should be brought down by one per cent in six months, UP Chief Minister tells officials

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], September 4 : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday reviewed preparations of 'National Nutrition Month-2020' and said the target is to bring down malnutrition by one per cent in the next six months.
He gave a clarion call to eradicate the of malnutrition among the children and take special care of the health of mothers.
An official release said the Chief Minister sought to spread this message while reviewing the preparations of 'National Nutrition Month-2020' commencing on September 7.
He spoke to parents of some of the most malnutritioned children through video conferencing.
The Chief Minister said that the "nutrition drive" is an important event inspired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi which is aimed at looking after the well being of children and mothers.
"He said that the target is fixed to bring down malnutrition by one per cent in the next six months. He asked to identify SAM (severe acute malnutrition) children. A one day-drive should be conducted to take height and weight of all the children to fix the baseline to gauge future progress. In addition to this, the health department will do a check-up of SAM/MAM children," the release said.
The Chief Minister also announced the award to the best performing districts.
He asked officials to monitor the targets during 3-6 month and make an assessment by March 2021. He further directed the DMs to convene a meeting of the District Nutrition Committee to facilitate the convergence of concerned departments.
The Chief Minister said he will review the progress of this programme in two months and before that the Chief Secretary will review it in a month. It will be preceded by the weekly review at the district level and later by the commissioners.
The Chief Minister hoped that all the concerned departments will make a concerted effort to take Uttar Pradesh to the top in the country as far as nutrition is concerned and reminded how pro-active endeavours helped control the menace of encephalitis in Gorakhpur and surrounding areas.
He said the departments of Health, Panchayati Raj and Education should converge well with the Women and Child Development Department to address the problem of malnutrition and added that other departments such as Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Civil Supply, Ayush and Horticulture have also to play an important role.
The Chief Minister said that no such drive can be successful without public participation. He urged the official machinery to connect people's representatives, media persons, voluntary organisations and social workers with this drive to make it a public movement.
He gave directions to set up 'Nutri Garden' in which the land of government schools, residential schools, Anganwadi centres and gram panchayat should be given preference. Under the concept of 'Nutri Garden", apart from community places, every household should be encouraged to grow fruits, vegetables and medicinal plants, he said.
The Chief Minister also suggested parents to follow cattle rearing and asked the district administration to make available cows to the families of most malnutritioned children. He said that the compost and milk from the cow will be beneficial for their kids, the release said.
He inquired about the condition of the children from the parents who have been benefited with various nutrition schemes from five aspirational districts including Bahraich, Balrampur, Shravasti.