School meals ensure nutrition for millions of vulnerable children across the world. Almost 370 million children worldwide are covered by school feeding programmes. While 100 million school children benefitted from the noon meal scheme in India prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, countries like Brazil (48 million), China (44 million), South Africa (9 million) and Nigeria (9 million) too run similar programmes for school children. However, an estimated 39 billion in-school...

-TheWire.in One of the most disturbing effects of the pandemic has been on the nutritional needs of the disadvantaged. The Budget needs to prioritise addressing this issue. The pandemic led disruptions of nutrition services have exacerbated India’s existing burden of undernutrition. Children did not get the mid-day meals and supplementary nutrition under the anganwadi services scheme they were registered under. Critical health services like immunisation, iron-folic acide and calcium supplementation, treatment of...

-PolicyCircle.org The Special Programme for Promotion of Millets in Tribal Areas of Odisha: Malnutrition is one of the greatest health and development challenges at present. Ending all forms of malnutrition by 2030 is one of the targets under the second sustainable development goal. Revival of millets that are considered as smart crops because of their resilience to climate change and nutritional advantages will be important in this regard. The Special Programme...

-Livemint.com Gujarat has high per capita income and an enviable industrial sector. But it has a lot of progress to make on health and other social parameters  Earlier this week, the Gujarat government renamed the dragon fruit as Kamalam, its explanation being that its outer shape resembles that of a lotus. This symbolic act has drawn criticism for the state’s priorities, especially during a global pandemic. Here are five areas of greater...

-Hindustan Times Maternity benefits should be a right of all workers regardless of employment status, or the number of children The key findings from the National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS-5) of selected states have reminded us that India is facing a crisis of poor nutrition outcomes. Prevalence of stunting among children has remained stagnant or increased in most of these states. The appalling under-nourishment of children reflects poor maternal nutrition, widespread anaemia...