Adani Wilmar Approach to Fight Malnutrition & Anemia

Adani Wilmar – In India, child malnutrition is a pervasive and long-standing public health issue. India consistently scored among the lowest on measures of children’s health, according to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS).

Anemia rates increased for women from 53.1 to 57%, for males from 22.7 to 25%, and for children under the age of five from 58.6 to 67%. Every state in India has seen a worsening of the situation.

India still has one of the highest rates of child malnutrition in the world, despite significant expenditure being made to address this problem. India is ranked third on the Global Hunger Index (2022), which is based on the population’s overall undernourishment, child stunting, wasting, and child mortality.

Around 15% of all diseases in India are caused by this scourge of malnutrition, whether it is child or maternal malnutrition.

Adani Wilmar

Taking note of this, Adani Wilmar Limited, one of India’s leading food FMCG firms, and the project’s implementation partner Adani Foundation, the Adani Group’s CSR arm, have developed a programme to support government nutrition-related initiatives by empowering local communities. In order to make the programmes accessible to everyone, this complements government resources.

In order to address the issue of malnutrition in the project area, the Fortune SuPoshan project has a lifecycle strategy and targets adolescent females, expectant women, breastfeeding moms, and 0–5-year-old children.

Key positions for change

The project, which was started in 2016, not only improves the health and nutritional status of kids, adolescent females, and pregnant and lactating women, but it also instils useful knowledge for healthy behaviour change.

The village-level volunteers, also referred to as “SuPoshan Sanginis,” are the project’s centre of gravity. Their effort aims to reduce anaemia in adolescent girls and women of reproductive age as well as child malnutrition rates. The SuPoshan Sanginis work as change agents in the community, aiming to promote nutrition. SuPoshan Saginis, a community spokesperson, spend their time highlighting the significance of food, nutrition, and WASH at the home level.

SuPoshan Sanginis plays a pivotal role

The SuPoshan Sanginis are the main programme implementers, and the programme activities begin with a household-level anthropometric survey and screening. They apply WHO guidelines to assess the children’s levels of malnutrition, and they acquire the technical expertise needed to provide counselling on a variety of concerns. Additionally, they host a variety of village-level events like focus groups, family counselling, and other such activities.

Community-based methodology

The Fortune SuPoshan was created with the ICDS, National Nutrition Mission, and NHM government service lines in mind. To combat malnutrition and anaemia, the project’s strategy uses a multi-stakeholder, community-based approach. It focuses on a community-led paradigm to enhance nutritional outcomes for the target population, which includes girls in adolescence and women in the reproductive age range as well as children under the age of five.

Combating undernutrition

SuPoshan Sanginis maintain a mechanism to support the family after determining that a child has extreme levels of malnutrition as well as a few medical issues. This includes directing patients seeking medical assistance, family counselling, or even post-therapy follow-ups to the malnutrition treatment facility.

The programme now works with India’s most at-risk communities. Through rigorous community-based management of malnutrition with a primary focus on 1000 days, MIYCF, and the life cycle approach, more than 45,000 undernourished children have been moved to a healthy category.

In a similar vein, almost 8000 anaemic teenage girls and women who were in the reproductive age range have already reached healthy levels.

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