Kudumbashree’s focus on nutrition as part of Poshan Maah observance

In Kozhikode, the Kudumbashree district mission has been organising food festivals featuring dishes made using millets, tubers, and various kinds of leaves in wards and panchayats for the past month as part of the Rashtriya Poshan Maah observance. The mission, which is organising Poshan Maah activities in convergence mode to mobilise the people and reinforce nutrition and health behaviours, has also been holding cooking contests as it focusses on local and healthy dishes that were always around but not much in vogue, besides promoting healthy ways of cooking without sacrificing on flavour.

“The food festivals feature local healthy and tasty foods that have existed for long but have not been explored much in an effort to popularise them and introduce their nutritional value to others. Take millets for instance. They have gained in popularity recently, but dishes made using ragi, kambam, and other millets had always been cooked. The food festivals promote these healthy recipes without compromising on taste, so as to appeal to children especially,” says Nishida Saibuni, Kozhikode district programme manager, Kudumbashree.

Dishes using tubers

The fetes also feature dishes that are made using tubers such as colocasia, yam, and sweet potato and various kinds of leaves. “It has been an eye opener for us. We never knew such a treasure trove of healthy recipes existed. Nor did we know their rich nutrient value,” says Ms. Saibuni. Another learning is that foods that are not locally produced and are a tad expensive can easily be replaced with locally available alternatives with similar nutrient value, she points out.

Recipe sharing, poster making contests, and classes by Kudumbashree resource persons in self-help groups and Kudumbashree Balasabhas themed on obesity and psychosocial well-being are the other programmes organised as part of the observance, says Ms. Saibuni.

Krishnakumari R., State Assistant Programme Manager, Food, Nutrition, Health, Wash, Kudumbashree, says that since Kudumbashree self-help group and Balasabha members include pregnant women and children, Poshan Maah is observed in convergence with other departments across its community development societies (CDS) across the State.

Kudumbashree’s resource persons at district and CDS level organise activity-based programmes for SHG members as part of social and behaviour change communication. This year, awareness was created through modules on obesity and psychosocial well-being that focus on the entire family, she says.

Medical camps for prevention of non-communicable diseases or screening camps for sugar and blood pressure, nutrition fetes as part of balanced diet awareness, awareness sessions by dietitian or doctors, rallies, and participation in anganwadi activities are also being organised, Ms. Krishnakumari said.