Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

An Uphill Task for POSHAN Abhiyan: Examining the Missing Link of ‘Convergence’

  • Perspective
  • Published:
Indian Pediatrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The Participatory Approach for Nutrition in Children: Strengthening Health, Education, Engineering and Environment Linkages (PANChSHEEEL) project is a collaboration between University College London, Save the Children India, Jawaharlal Nehru University and Indian Institute of Technology Delhi to develop a socio-culturally appropriate, tailored, integrated and interdisciplinary intervention in rural India and test its acceptability for delivery through Anganwadi Centre (AWCs) and schools. Recognizing the socio-ecological determinants of under-nutrition, the POSHAN Abhiyan (POSHAN Mission) adopts a multi-sectoral approach to achieve five goals, of which two are directly related to children. The POSHAN Abhiyan resonates with the conceptual framework of the PANChSHEEEL study in its interdisciplinary scope and focus on local linka ges. This paper draws upon empirical evidence from the PANChSHEEEL Project in Banswara (one of the POSHAN mission districts), Rajasthan to help understand linkages between policy and practice, specifically the challenges of operationalizing ‘convergence’, the core strategy of the Abhiyan.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. United Nations. Sustainable Development Goal 3, The Sustainable Development Goals Report; 2018. Available from: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg3 . Accessed February 24, 2019.

  2. World Health Organization., The Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescent’s Health (2016–2030). Geneva, Switzerland: WHO; 2015. Available from: http://www.who.int/life-course/partners/global-strategy/globalstrategyreport2016-2030-lowres.pdf . Accessed February 20, 2019.

  3. Were WM, Daelmans B, Bhutta Z, Duke T, Bahl R, Boschi-Pinto C, et al. Children’s health priorities and interventions. BMJ. 2015;351. Available from:https://www.bmj.com/content/351/bmj.h4300 . Accessed January 11, 2019.

  4. Costello AM and Dalglish SL on behalf of the strategic review study team. Towards a grand convergence for child survival and health: A strategic review of options for the future building on lessons learnt from IMNCI. World Health Organisation, 2016. Available from: https://www.who.int/maternal_child_adolescent/documents/strategic-review-child-health-imnci/en/ . Accessed January 28, 2019.

  5. Mohamand SK. Policies Without Politics: Analysing Nutrition Governance in India. 2012. Available from: https://www.ids.ac.uk/files/dmfile/DFID_ANG_India_Report_Final.pdf . Accessed March 01, 2019.

  6. Niti Aayog, GOI. NITI Aayog calls renewed focus on Nutrition, launches the National Nutrition Strategy, New Delhi; 2017. Available from: http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=170549 . Accessed March 12, 2019.

  7. Niti Aayog, GOI. National Nutrition Strategy. New Delhi; 2017. Available from: http://niti.gov.in/writereaddata/files/document_publication/Nutrition_Strategy_Booklet.pdf . Accessed March 12, 2019.

  8. Government of India. Cabinet approves setting up of National Nutrition Mission. New Delhi; 2017. Available from: https://www.icds-wcd.nic.in/nnm/NNM-Web-Contents/UPPER-MENU/AboutNNM/PIB_release_NationalNutritionMission.pdf . Accessed March 12, 2019.

  9. Government of India. PM launches National Nutrition Mission, and pan India expansion of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, at Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan. New Delhi; 2018. Available from: http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease. aspx?relid=177166 . Accessed March 14, 2019.

  10. Imdad A, Yakoob MY, Bhutta ZA. Impact of maternal education about complementary feeding and provision of complementary food on child growth in developing countries. BMC Public Health. 2011;11:S25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Dasgupta R, Chaand I, Rakshit Barla K. The slippery slope of child feeding practices in India. Indian Pediatr. 2018;55:284–6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Chaturvedi S, Ramji S, Arora NK, Rewal S, Dasgupta R, Desmukh V. Time-constrained mother and expanding market: Emerging model of under-nutrition in India. BMC Public Health. 2016;16:632.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Komatsu H, Malapit HJL, Theis S. Does women’s time in domestic work and agriculture affect women’s and children’s dietary diversity? Evidence from Bangladesh, Nepal, Cambodia, Ghana, and Mozambique. Food Policy. 2018;79:256–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Balakrishnan R. Rural women and food security in Asia and the pacific: prospects and paradoxes. Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. 2005. Available from: ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/008/af348e/af348e00.pdf . Accessed February 19, 2019.

  15. Kulwa KB, Kinabo J L, Modest B. Constraints on good child care practices and nutritional status in urban Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. Food Nutr Bull. 2006;27:236–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Mittal A, Singh J, Ahluwalia SK. Effect of maternal factors on nutritional status of 1–5 year old children in urban slum population. Indian J Community Med. 2007;32:264–7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Connelly R, DeGraff DS, Levison D. Women’s employment and child care in Brazil. Econ Dev Cult Change. 2007;44:619–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Srivastava A, Gope R, Nair N, Rath S, Rath S, Sinha R, et al. Are village health sanitation and nutrition committees fulfilling their roles for decentralized health planning and action? A mixed methods study from rural eastern India. BMC Public Health. 2016;16:59.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Semwal V, Jha SK, Rawat CMS, Kumar S, Kaur A. Assessment of village health sanitation and nutrition committee under NRHM in Nainital district of Uttarakhand. Indian Journal of Community Health. 2013;25:472–9.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Rasanathan K, Bennett S, Atkins V, Beschel R, Carrasquilla G, Charles J, Dasgupta R, et al. Governing multisectoral action for health in low- and middle-income countries. PLoS Med. 2017;14:e1002285.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Kingdon J. Agendas, alternatives and public policy. Boston: Little. 1995, 204.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Austen A, Zacny B. The role of public service motivation and organizational culture for organizational commitment. Management. 2015;19:21–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Nutbeam D. Getting evidence into policy and practice to address health inequalities. Health Promotion International. 2004;19:137–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

Global Challenges Research Fund and funded by the MRC, AHRC, BBSRC, ESRC and NERC.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, 110 067, India

    Rajib Dasgupta

  2. Save the Children India, Gurgaon, Haryana, India

    Susrita Roy

  3. Integrated Community Child Health, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, London, UK

    Monica Lakhanpaul

Authors
  1. Rajib Dasgupta
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Susrita Roy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Monica Lakhanpaul
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Consortia

For the PANChSHEEEL Project Team

Contributions

The authors drafted the manuscript on behalf of the PANChSHEEEL Project. All project team members reviewed the manuscript and approved the final version.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rajib Dasgupta.

Additional information

Competing Interests

None stated.

PANChSHEEL RESEARCH TEAM

Principal Investigator: Monica Lakshanpaul, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health.

Co-investigators: Marie Lall, Institute of Education, UCL; Priti Parikh, Civil Environmental and Geomatic Eng, UCL; Lorna Benton UCL, Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health; Rajib Dasgupta, Jawaharlal Nehru University; Virendra Kumar Vijay, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi; Rajesh Khanna, Save the Children, India; Hanimi Reddy, Save the Children, India; Logan Manikam, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health.

Save the Children: Sanjay Sharma, Susrita Roy, Neha Santwani, Satya Prakash Pattanaik, Priyanka Dang, Hemant Chaturvedi, Pramod Pandya, Tol Singh.

Indian Institute of Technology: Namrata Agrahari.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Dasgupta, R., Roy, S., Lakhanpaul, M. et al. An Uphill Task for POSHAN Abhiyan: Examining the Missing Link of ‘Convergence’. Indian Pediatr 57, 109–113 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13312-020-1722-0

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13312-020-1722-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation