Amway Emphasizes On Addressal Of Childhood Malnutrition This World health Day

Building on its global proficiency in the nutrition and wellness segment, Amway India, celebrated World Health Day with a national e-seminar on building a better tomorrow with an emphasis on nutrition in children. Organized in collaboration with its NGO partner SRF Foundation, the virtual platform brought together policy experts, subject-matter experts, and industry leaders to talk about present challenges and scopes in enhancing nutrition and health amongst children, especially those below 5 years of age.

According to the latest National Family Health Survey (NHFS), 18 of the 22 states and Union Territories (UTs) have shown an alarming increase in the malnutrition condition of children less than five years of age. While each of the surveyed states and UTs reported 22% or more stunted children, at least eight out of 342 surveyed districts registered over 50% prevalence of child stunting.

Pondering on such critical issues and the necessity to address inequities in access to health and nutrition, present at the virtual event were Jyotika Kalra, Member, National Human Rights Commission, Rajbala Kataria, joint director, Women and Child Development Department, Haryana, Dr Sujeet Ranjan, executive director, The Coalition for Food and Nutrition Security (CFNS), Ajay Khanna, chief marketing officer, Amway India Enterprises Pvt. Ltd, Dr Sirimavo Nair, Professor in Foods and Nutrition, Faculty of Family and Community Sciences, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Basant Kumar Dube, District Immunization and Child Health Officer, Nuh and Dr Y. Suresh Reddy, director, SRF Foundation.

Talking at the conference, Ajay Khanna, chief marketing officer at Amway India stated- “The WHO theme of World Health Day 2021 of establishing a fairer, healthier world is a clarion call to reinforce action in the best possible way to make lives healthier and better for every child in the nation. Amway India is one of the leading supporters of holistic nutrition and wellness. With our ambition of helping people live better, salubrious lives, we attempt to make a distinct societal influence via numerous social initiatives. In compliance with Government of India’s National Nutrition Mission, Amway had launhced its globally acclaimed campaign, ‘Power of 5’ with a target to create awareness on the issue of childhood malnutrition and bring in the much-required behavioral shift among mothers and communities at large. Leveraging the victory of our pilot project in Kirari village, New Delhi, we are introducing the 2nd phase of this project with SRF Foundation in Nuh district, Haryana. Under this two-year program, we are planning to benefit more than 51,000 people including 15,000 children in the age group of 0-8 years. I truly have a feeling that with such similar relevant partnerships and collaborations, we can achieve the goal of a healthy India.”

Speaking about the initiative, Dr Y. Suresh Reddy, director of SRF Foundation declared- “In spite of significant economic growth, India still faces an unacceptably high burden of malnourished children. We are emphasized on channeling our efforts to assist and aid as many children as we can. With this partnership with Amway India, we have initiated the process of raising awareness regarding the basic nutritional and hygiene practices at the grassroots level. We are grateful to the team at Amway India for their tireless support.”