There is a rush to cash in on micronutrient deficiency in India through fortification of food Andhra Pradesh Foods, a state government enterprise, is ramping up its fortified food production capacity. It provides ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook foods like upma mix, sweet porridge and khichdi mix, fortified with iron, zinc and other vitamins, to infants and pregnant and lactating women under the Centre’s Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS). The effort to double its...

Jay Naidoo, chair of the GAIN Board, South Africa said 60 million children in India are malnourished, which is higher than the total population of South Africa. Naidoo was in the city at the launch of fortified wheat flour and fortified edible oil for sale in open market. He said, "Around 60% of India's total population is living below poverty line. These people are dependant on the government. So, government plays...

-IANS   In order to promote personal hygene among young rural girls, Tamil Nadu launched distribution of free sanitary napkins to girls in the age group of 10 to 19 in all the villages. In a statement issued here Friday by the government, Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa has ordered distribution of free sanitary napkins to young girls as well as lactating mothers and women prisoners across the state at an annual outlay of...

It will be a mistake to assume that the food security bill, in its present form, will necessarily and sharply reduce India’s embarrassingly high rates of child malnutrition. Satiating hunger and providing nutrients that are essential for healthy growth and fitness are not quite the same thing, a fact highlighted by the leading medical journal Lancet in a recent research paper. The article says the prevalence of anaemia in India...

-The United Nations   The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) today launched a web-based tool that gives governments and health-care providers access to clear guidance on how to scale up life-saving nutrition interventions to combat all forms of malnutrition. The WHO e-Library of Evidence for Nutrition Actions (eLENA), launched at the beginning of a three-day Asian regional meeting on nutrition in Colombo, Sri Lanka, is designed to help governments overcome one...