Jammu : Secretary, Health & Medical Education (H&ME), Bhupinder Kumar on Saturday chaired a meeting of committee constituted to work on Health and Nutrition under Viksit Bharat Abhiyan to work out strategies and action plan for eliminating Anaemia, Micro Nutrient deficiencies, stunting and wasting across J&K.
The meeting was held with an aim to identify measurable indicators on each thematic area and to prepare strategy/ action plan for addressing identified gaps for improvement of the indicators through targeted approach with timelines.
During the meeting, the Committee deliberated upon various aspects affecting health and nutrition of general masses .Detailed discussions were held on severely of the problem and measures required for strengthening of existing interventions in coordination with other stakeholder departments for addressing the issues.
The Committee, during the meeting, also developed consensus that there is need to conduct the assessment of existing implementation strategies of schemes/ interventions and gap analysis of supplies, equipments, instruments in use for screening and treatment in health facilities, AWCs and Schools.
In addition, it wa also suggested that there is a need to conduct thorough studies so as to quantify values of various indicators related to the theme, for ensuring an objective approach towards deciding the interventions required.
The committee members during the meeting also agreed that food fortification being scientifically proven, cost effective, scalable and sustainable global intervention for addressing the issue of micro-nutrient deficiencies. They agreed that introduction and scaling up of food fortification of various food items commonly used by the general masses is need of the hour.
During the meeting, directions were issued to examine different aspects of implementation of schemes and programmes implemented by different departments so that future strategies, targets, interventions and action plan is devised for coordinated efforts towards ensuring desired level of health and nutrition with defined outcomes.
The meeting was attended by Food Commissioner J&K, Mission Director NHM J&K, Mission Director, POSHAN J&K, Mission Director, SamagraShiksha, J&K, Director Health Services Jammu/ Kashmir, Controller Drugs & Food Control Organization J&K and other concerned officers.
Principal Govt. Medical College Jammu/ Srinagar, Director School Education, Jammu/ Kashmir and other concerned officials attended the meeting through Video Conferencing.
