NITI Aayog, in partnership with the Centre for Social and Behaviour Change, Ashoka University, and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on April 13, 2021, launched Poshan Gyan. It is a national digital repository on health and nutrition.
The event was addressed by the Vice Chairman Dr. Rajiv Kumar and CEO Amitabh Kant of NITI Aayog, Secretary of WCD, Ram Mohan Mishra, and Additional Secretary Rakesh Aggarwal.
As per the official statement, the Poshan Gyan repository was conceptualized as a source. It enables the search of communication materials on 14 thematic areas of health and nutrition across diverse media types, languages, target audiences, and sources.
#NITIAayog, in partnership with @gatesfoundation and @CSBC_AshokaUniv, today launched #PoshanGyan, a national digital repository on health and nutrition, which covers 14 thematic areas across diverse languages, media types, target audiences & sources. https://t.co/stZPLJFEkp pic.twitter.com/2asg0J9Blt
Objective:
The Vice-Chairman of Niti Aayog, Dr. Rajiv Kumar while addressing the launch event informed that Poshan Gyan is an extremely significant initiative. It will help to make nutrition a ‘Jan Andolan’, as envisioned by PM Modi.
Malnutrition can be improved through behavioural change:
While addressing the event, the Vice-Chairman pointed that the high malnutrition persists in India, despite it being a food-surplus nation. He added that the situation can only improve through the ‘behavioural change’ among the citizens of the country.
He further added that the real change can be brought only through the changing behaviours on the ground.
The CEO of Niti Aayog, Amitabh Kant in his address stated that the challenge of nutrition in the country can only be solved by targeting those especially vulnerable, such as children below the age of 6 years and pregnant women, through the application of behavioural insights.
Benefit of crowdsourcing feature of Poshan Gyan portal:
The Secretary of the Ministry of Women and Child Development Welfare while lauding the establishment of the portal stated that knowledge is most powerful when it aids in the betterment of society.
He further pointed that the crowdsourcing feature of the site can be easily used to disseminate the nationwide solutions that have also proved successful in local contexts. He gave an example of the use of a traditional grape-based concoction that was found to be efficacious in controlling anaemia in Tamil Nadu.
