Nagaland government partners with Vitamin Angels to fight malnutrition in the state

New Delhi: The Nagaland State Government announced partnership with not-for-profit organization Vitamin Angels to counter the growing child mortality and cases of child malnutrition in the state.

Under the agreement, Vitamin Angels will provide technical assistance to Nagaland government to strengthen the public health nutrition system in the state in order to safeguard children under 5, pregnant and lactating women against malnutrition.

Vitamin Angels’s will be assisting the government in administration of vitamin A, multiple micronutrient supplements and deworming interventions, strengthening supply chain mechanism of vitamin A, supporting capacity building of frontline workers in health and nutrition interventions, strengthening the Maternal, Infant and Young Child Nutrition Programme (MIYCN) and delivering Micronutrient supplementation to pregnant women across districts.
Nagaland has shown significant improvement in the nutritional status of young children in NFHS 5 (2019-20) with vitamin A coverage for children under 5 growing to 44.4% from 27.2% in NFHS 4 (2015-16). 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 association aims to improve the coverage rate further.

This association was undertaken under Indian government’s flagship programme POSHAN (Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition) Abhiyaan launched to address the problem of malnutrition and improve nutritional outcomes for children, pregnant women and lactating mothers.