Micronutrient deficiency remains major public health challenge: Expert
Speaking at the inauguration of a national workshop on 'Initiatives and Progress to Address Hidden Hunger' organised by CSIR-CFTRI here on Friday, Dr. Khera highlighted that micronutrient deficiencies remain one of the leading causes of impaired health and development in children, underscoring the need for large-scale interventions.
'Micronutrient deficiencies are widespread, with anaemia affecting nearly 59-60% of the population. Despite various programmes to tackle it, only about 10-15% reduction has been achieved so far,' he stated.
He emphasised that the Central government has launched the POSHAN Abhiyan with the aim of reducing anaemia by at least 50% by 2030, but achieving this target remains a challenge. Micronutrient supplementation programmes and food fortification are among the major solutions to address these issues, he suggested.
Citing the example of the iodised salt initiative which successfully addressed goitre in the country, Dr. Khera said that similar large-scale fortification programmes are needed to tackle other micronutrient deficiencies. 'Iodised salt was one of India's biggest public health success stories. Food fortification plays a key role, and the Centre has prioritised fortification for societal safety. Such initiatives can also help reduce neural tube defects,' he added.
Supporting this, Sesikiran Boindala, former Director, National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR), Hyderabad, who was the chief guest of the event, pointed out that around 2.5 lakh children are born with neural tube defects every year. Three in every 1,000 live births experience neural tube defects, causing conditions like spina bifida.
He stressed the importance of rice and wheat flour fortification to address nutritional challenges, and noted that fortified foods do not pose health risks, as nutrients remain within safe levels even if consumed in excess.
In her address, CSIR-CFTRI Director Sridevi Annapurna Singh spoke about the institute's initiatives in developing fortified foods over the years to combat micronutrient deficiencies effectively.
Reena Das, a professor from the Department of Hematology, PGIMER, Chandigarh also spoke at the event.
The experts discussed addressing micronutrient deficiencies through fortification, supplementation, and dietary diversity to achieve nutritional security.
The two-day workshop has been organised to deliberate on the progress, challenges, and way forward for micronutrient fortification initiatives in India, with a focus on food system-based interventions such as nutritious diets, staple food fortification, and especially fortified rice, which has now been scaled to 675 rice-consuming districts via the Public Distribution System (PDS), Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), and Mid-Day Meal (MDM) programmes.
Key objectives of the workshop include showcasing progress, innovations, and learnings in rice fortification and take-home rations (THR); addressing challenges in quality assurance, field implementation, compliance, capacity building, and laboratory strengthening; facilitating cross-learning from other commodity fortification programmes (salt, oil, wheat); defining a collaborative roadmap for strengthening the Central government's plan of action for 2025 and beyond; promoting stakeholder engagement, knowledge sharing, and awareness generation on food fortification to demystify myths and enhance programme implementation; and sharing success stories and lessons from cross-commodity fortification experiences.
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