Officials during the signing of MOU between the Nagaland Government and Vitamin Angels during a consultative meeting held at IDSP Hall, DHFW on September 17. (Photo Courtesy: IEC Bureau, DoH&FW Nagaland)
Partnership to help address issues of child malnutrition and mortality for children under 5 across Nagaland
Kohima, September 17 (MExN): Nagaland State Government has announced its partnership with Vitamin Angels, an International Not-for-profit Organization, to help address issues of child malnutrition and mortality for children under 5 across the State of Nagaland on September 17 during a consultative meeting at IDSP Hall, DHFW.
This partnership was announced by Dr I Talitemsula Jamir, Mission Director, National Health Mission (NHM), Department of Health and Family Welfare, Nagaland.
IEC Bureau, Directorate of Health & Family Welfare, Nagaland stated in a press release that NHM and Vitamin Angels had signed an MoU wherein Vitamin Angels would provide the Nagaland Government with technical assistance to strengthen and/or expand public health nutrition interventions targeted towards children under 5, pregnant and lactating women across the State.
This includes- Increasing availability and strengthening the administration of vitamin A, multiple micronutrient supplements and deworming interventions; Strengthening supply chain mechanism of vitamin A and deworming tablets; Supporting capacity building of frontline workers in health and nutrition interventions; Supporting monitoring of vitamin A and deworming interventions across the state; and Strengthening the Maternal, Infant and Young Child Nutrition Programme (MIYCN) and deliver MMS to pregnant women across a few districts.
Sunish Jauhari, President, Vitamin Angels India, said, “Vitamin Angels strives to reach the most underserved and nutritionally vulnerable communities across the globe and in India. We are very grateful to the Department of Health and Family Welfare, Nagaland for allowing us an opportunity to work with them in reaching the millions of children in the far-flung districts of the state. The MoU marks a milestone in our work with the government and we look forward to a strong collaboration in the future for positive impact on ground.”
Dr I Talitemsula Jamir, MD NHM expressed gratitude for the positive work done for the State and for all the support rendered, and thus, looking forward for more positive venture with the new partnership.
Vitamin Angels
Vitamin Angels has been working in India since 2010, with grassroots organizations and State Governments to support the underserved and unreached with critical healthcare and nutrition services.
Vitamin Angels started working with civil society organizations in Nagaland since 2011 and with the State Government of Nagaland since 2016, providing age-appropriate, colour coded, high-dose vitamin A capsules for children.
Since 2018, Vitamin Angels has been the primary and sole partner for the state government in ensuring vitamin A supplementation for children under 5 across the state.
Nagaland shown improvement in nutritional of young children
Nagaland has shown significant improvement in the nutritional status of young children over the last few decades. The NFHS 5 (2019-20) shows Vitamin A coverage for children under 5 at 44.4%, a marked increase since NFHS 4 (2015-16), where the coverage stood at a mere 27.2% across districts.
Kohima has shown the highest coverage of vitamin A in the State, with 76.8% coverage, higher than the optimal coverage level of 70% recommended by WHO. This is also a significant increase from its last recorded coverage in Kohima of 39% as per NFHS 4.
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