Telangana governor calls for increased awareness on nutrition

Hyderabad, Sept 01: Governor Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan on Tuesday called for increased awareness on nutrition and urged the people to join the mass movement to end malnutrition.

She said that malnutrition is one of the major reasons for maternal mortality and infant mortality. It is high time that we all join hands to realise the goal of Malnutrition-free India by 2022 as envisaged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi through the Poshan Abhhiyan for which Rs 9000 Crores is allotted.

The Governor was delivering the inaugural address at the National Nutrition Month-2020 programme, organised by the Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research (SRIHER), through a video conference from the Raj Bhavan, here.
Emphasising the need to have the best dietary practices and a proper diet plan to improve immunity, Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan pointed out that the Covid-19 pandemic has once again highlighted the need to have better immunity levels. She also called for having a Covid-19 preventive diet plan and post-Covid-19 diet plan to prevent and face the pandemic.
The Governor stated that traditional foods are rich immune boosters and remembered that when she was a child, she used to relish the palm jaggery, which is highly nutritious, given by her grandmother.

“I am anguished to see even the educated parents giving their children junk food in excess thus making them prone to many ailments. I appeal to the parents to feed their children with balanced and highly nutritious food,” the Governor said.
Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan has also exhorted the people to develop Kitchen Gardens wherever possible so as to ensure the availability of nutritious and pesticide-free vegetables to their families.

“It is time that we not only strive to have food security but also the nutritious food security at the same time to end the malnutrition to ensure fit and healthy India,” the Governor added.

Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan said that KCR Kit in Telangana and Amma Baby care Kit in Tamil Nadu are resulting in more institutional deliveries.

SRIHER Vice-Chancellor Prof. P. Vijayaraghavan, Principal Dr. Senthil Kumar, Head, Dept of Clinical Nutrition Dr. AJ Hemamalini and others were part of the webinar.