Celebrating Hunger Action Month As Poshan Maah In India

By Author: The Akshaya Patra Foundation
Total Articles: 112
Comment this article

Hunger is a universal problem that exists from third world countries to modern pinnacles like the United States. Eating food is a natural right that every human being can enjoy. However, not everyone is very lucky. People still face different forms of hunger throughout the globe.

In 2020, between 720 and 811 million people faced hunger
It is estimated that in 2030, 660 million people may still face hunger, as a result of the long-lasting impact of the pandemic on global food security.

Hunger Action Month to mitigate hunger

September is considered Hunger Action Month. It is a month dedicated to standing and fighting against food insecurity in the United States. This was first established by an organisation called Feeding America in 2008 to raise awareness about the growing hunger crisis and take action to curb it.

Orange is the colour of this month where many individuals come together to provide food for the hungry people. Posts on social media with hashtags are common, like #HungerActionMonth or #EndHunger. These benevolent individuals commit to ensuring that nobody has to make an impossible ...
... choice between food and other necessities.

Extreme hunger and malnutrition are inescapable traps from which millions of people across the world suffer. Malnourished individuals are prone to various diseases which makes them less productive and often unable to earn a decent living to improve their livelihoods.

How can we make Zero Hunger possible?
Educate, Advocate, Volunteer, and Donate

Educate people about hunger, its causes, its effects and long-term illnesses. Most people coming from challenging economic backgrounds, often don’t know that they are suffering from hidden hunger that could surface at a later stage. Educating them about the importance of nutritional meals will keep them aware of what they are missing out on and what sort of food should be consumed.

Support people as much as you can. Donate online to NGOs that work hard towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 2 – Zero Hunger. If you choose to donate to any of these registered non-profit organisations, you also get tax exemptions on your donation.

When you have the urge to make a difference but do not have sufficient funds to make a huge impact, you can also dedicate and promise your time to volunteer in activities that make such programmes successful.

India’s role in making Zero-Hunger possible

Service begins at home is a popular saying; India has taken to feeding its citizens to make it a hunger-free nation. In the country, the first week of September is celebrated as National Nutrition Week, to raise awareness of the importance of nutrition. It was launched in 1973 by American Dietetic Association to educate on nutrition. In 1982, the concept changed to raising awareness about the importance of nutrition for a healthy lifestyle that can be sustainable too.

This was later followed by POSHAN Abhiyaan to target stunting and low birth weight in children below the age of five. Since the beginning of this scheme, September is celebrated as Nutrition Month or POSHAN Maah.
Why POSHAN Maah?
• According to Global Hunger Index, India ranks 101st amongst 116 countries, interpreting it to be suffering from serious levels of hunger.
• The National Family Health Survey (2019-2021) shows a high level of malnutrition in children below five years of age. (35.5% stunted, 19.3% wasted and 32.1% underweight)
• The rate of anaemia was alarming in children below the age of five (67.1%) and women of reproductive age (57%).
• Early initiation of breastfeeding practices has seen a decline (41.8%) and timely introduction of complementary feeding (45.9%).

Measures of mitigation

In 1975, India launched the Integrated Child Development Services and Mid-Day Meal Programme (now called PM POSHAN Abhiyaan) in 1995. After which the National Nutrition Policy and National Food Security Act were established in 1993 and 2013 respectively to combat undernutrition problems and make good quantity and quality of food accessible. This year (in 2022), is the fifth year of the Rashtriya Poshan Maah, which was established to create awareness about nutrition and encourage community participation to fight malnutrition.

The themes for this year include Mahila and Swasthya; Bacha and Shiksha–Poshan bhi, Padhai bhi to cater to pregnant and nursing mothers as well as mid-day meal beneficiaries that will support food and education.

Role of NGOs in POSHAN Maah
Non-profit organisations aim to benefit the ‘difficult to access’ areas of society. One such NGO in India is The Akshaya Patra Foundation which nourishes children from a very young age. With its Anganwadi Feeding programme, it serves meals to expecting and nursing mothers and their children so that nutritional levels are taken care of at a very young age. However, its core cause is serving mid-day meals to school children studying in Government and Government-aided schools of India. It currently serves 2 million meals every day to children whose parents cannot afford one square meal a day.

Akshaya Patra is present in 65 locations spread across 14 states and 2 union territories of India.
Apart from its flagship programmes, the Foundation also steps up to make healthy meals accessible to anyone who is in need of it – during natural calamities like earthquakes and floods or the pandemic.

In conclusion

Many measures are taken worldwide to eradicate all forms of hunger to make Zero hunger possible. If this SDG-2 criterion is met, we can be sure that the world has healthy people and nobody is deprived of meals.
This POSHAN Maah or Hunger Action Month, lets alleviate hunger from the face of humanity by showing our kindness to people in need. Donate to make healthy meals accessible today.

I'm a social volunteer, lives in Bengaluru. I do work for NGOs to make society better. Currently I'm working for The Akshaya Patra Foundation. It's an NGO in India which provides wholesome nutritious mid-day meals to government school children to end classroom hunger. https://www.akshayapatra.org/