Vol. 10, Special Issue 5 (2021)

Author(s):
Krunal C Kamani

Abstract:
Nutrition is fundamental to human health and development. Addressing malnutrition saves lives, reduces inequalities, and builds strong and resilient individuals, families, communities and, eventually, countries. The Take-Home Rations (THR) programme provides fortified rations for home use for children between 6 and 36 months, and pregnant and lactating women. Malnutrition numbers in the country have been steadily improving thanks to the programme, combined with other key interventions. The percentage of stunted children under 5 years of age has fallen from 48% in 2005 to 34.7% in 2019. However, a lot still needs to be achieved to meet the National Nutrition Mission’s Vision 2022 targets, which aim to decrease under nutrition by 3 percent each year and cut anemia among children and women by a third, over the next two years. The current THR programme will help to quickly cope with the negative impact on nutrition during COVID-19. It has the right idea, good goals, adequate budget, and it targets the right section of society – with minor tweaking and strengthening it can help India achieve nutrition security for the most vulnerable and help them reach their full potential. Gujarat has been a pioneering state in the field of dairy development. There are various nutrition interventions in Gujarat focused on children, adolescent girls and expectant mothers. Some important schemes like Dudh Sanjeevani Yojana (DSY), Take Home Ration (THR), etc. is jointly implemented by Government of Gujarat and Dairy Cooperatives. It is aimed for improving the health of children in the state Government of Gujarat. The main objective of this scheme is to assess the satisfaction level of health promoting schemes Take Home Ration (THR) among the beneficiaries as well as arrest malnutrition among children. The present study was conducted on 750 Anganwadi beneficiaries/parents receiving Take Home Ration (THR). This research paper highlights the major Health promoting schemes jointly offered by Government of Gujarat to assess the satisfaction level of health promoting schemes Take Home Ration (THR) among the Anganwadi beneficiaries/parents of Gujarat State further this paper also highlights the challenges and some fruitful suggestions are also pointed to improve the schemes to get better result.