Until recently I wasn’t aware of what is termed as ‘hidden hunger’. I was introduced to this phenomenon while reading an article where Vivek Oberoi was quoted saying, “We, as a country has had so many achievements at the global platform but hidden hunger still remains an obstacle to sustaining education and achieving one’s full potential. ‘Feed the Future Now’ aims to combat this issue and I am glad to pledge support to its mission of nourishing the future of India so that kids get a holistic upbringing, just like we all did.” This led me to delve a little to know more about hidden hunger and its related campaign.
Hidden hunger
Hidden hunger refers to a form of deficiency that is caused by consuming food that may be filling the stomach but lack in essential vitamins, minerals, and other micro-nutrients necessary for healthy growth and development. Often times people from socio-economically challenged backgrounds are dependent on and consume food such as rice, corn, or wheat flour on a daily basis. This food may satisfy their hunger but do not provide the essential nutrients that are found in fruits, vegetables, pulses, and dairy and farm products. Eventually, this deficiency leads to the phenomenon called hidden hunger. Hidden hunger may result in ill health, impaired physical and cognitive development, and early deaths.
Ways to tackle hidden hunger
Provision of a nutritious diet is certainly the only way to tackle this situation. And, for this, there has to be a concerted effort from each and every one from the public, private, and civil society.
• Since the effect of hidden hunger is passed on from the mother to the child during the prenatal stage, early intervention becomes imperative. So, nourishment of the mother throughout maternity and beyond is vital.
• The first 1000 days i.e. conception to the two-year post-natal period, are considered crucial for a child’s development. By providing adequate nourishment during these days, we can break the under-nutrition – disease – mortality cycle.
• Schemes such as ICDS and Mid-Day Meal are food-based interventions aimed to provide nutrition-rich meals at Anganwadi centres and schools. By increasing reachability, the potential of these schemes can be harnessed to counter under-nutrition.
• Awareness drives about the importance of nutrition and its impact on health is a necessary step. Aggressive awareness campaigns regarding hidden hunger will have to be conducted for people to understand that eating is not enough, eating nutritious food will make a difference.
‘Feed the Future Now’ aims at countering hidden hunger
‘Feed the Future Now’ is an initiative of The Akshaya Patra Foundation to nourish and nurture children with wholesome meals and rightful education. Akshaya Patra is leveraging its Mid-Day Meal Programme to enrich children with nutritious school lunch. As has been mentioned earlier, a concerted effort is required to combat hidden hunger, through the ‘Feed the Future Now’ initiative Akshaya Patra is aiming to garner support and participation of people from all walks of life.
The initiative aims to provide 5-billion nutritious meals to school children by 2020. Since hidden hunger negatively impacts overall development of children hampering motor development and cognitive function resulting in poor school performance, this initiative will look forward to building an effective and collaborative multi-stakeholder campaign so as to ensure an increase in pro-nutrition investments. It will create awareness on the problem of hidden hunger so that more and more people are educated about its impact and that they understand its influence on the nation’s progress.
Corporate giants such as GlaxoSmithKline, PepsiCo, Nestle, Reliance Fresh, Viacom18, Facebook, Big FM PVR Cinemas and The Lalit Group of Hotels, along with renowned individuals namely Shankar Mahadevan, Vivek Oberoi, Sanjeev Kapoor, and Sonali Bendre have joined hands with Akshaya Patra in this initiative.
Conclusion
Hidden hunger is a matter of utmost concern. More so, when the nation is preparing to embrace the reputation of being home to the youngest and largest working-age populations in the world. At such a watershed moment, all we can do is come together in support of providing nutritious meals to the children of India who will soon shoulder the responsibilities of the nation. Donate for children and feed the future. Let us together conquer hunger by targetting hidden hunger.
Hidden hunger
Hidden hunger refers to a form of deficiency that is caused by consuming food that may be filling the stomach but lack in essential vitamins, minerals, and other micro-nutrients necessary for healthy growth and development. Often times people from socio-economically challenged backgrounds are dependent on and consume food such as rice, corn, or wheat flour on a daily basis. This food may satisfy their hunger but do not provide the essential nutrients that are found in fruits, vegetables, pulses, and dairy and farm products. Eventually, this deficiency leads to the phenomenon called hidden hunger. Hidden hunger may result in ill health, impaired physical and cognitive development, and early deaths.
Ways to tackle hidden hunger
Provision of a nutritious diet is certainly the only way to tackle this situation. And, for this, there has to be a concerted effort from each and every one from the public, private, and civil society.
• Since the effect of hidden hunger is passed on from the mother to the child during the prenatal stage, early intervention becomes imperative. So, nourishment of the mother throughout maternity and beyond is vital.
• The first 1000 days i.e. conception to the two-year post-natal period, are considered crucial for a child’s development. By providing adequate nourishment during these days, we can break the under-nutrition – disease – mortality cycle.
• Schemes such as ICDS and Mid-Day Meal are food-based interventions aimed to provide nutrition-rich meals at Anganwadi centres and schools. By increasing reachability, the potential of these schemes can be harnessed to counter under-nutrition.
• Awareness drives about the importance of nutrition and its impact on health is a necessary step. Aggressive awareness campaigns regarding hidden hunger will have to be conducted for people to understand that eating is not enough, eating nutritious food will make a difference.
‘Feed the Future Now’ aims at countering hidden hunger
‘Feed the Future Now’ is an initiative of The Akshaya Patra Foundation to nourish and nurture children with wholesome meals and rightful education. Akshaya Patra is leveraging its Mid-Day Meal Programme to enrich children with nutritious school lunch. As has been mentioned earlier, a concerted effort is required to combat hidden hunger, through the ‘Feed the Future Now’ initiative Akshaya Patra is aiming to garner support and participation of people from all walks of life.
The initiative aims to provide 5-billion nutritious meals to school children by 2020. Since hidden hunger negatively impacts overall development of children hampering motor development and cognitive function resulting in poor school performance, this initiative will look forward to building an effective and collaborative multi-stakeholder campaign so as to ensure an increase in pro-nutrition investments. It will create awareness on the problem of hidden hunger so that more and more people are educated about its impact and that they understand its influence on the nation’s progress.
Corporate giants such as GlaxoSmithKline, PepsiCo, Nestle, Reliance Fresh, Viacom18, Facebook, Big FM PVR Cinemas and The Lalit Group of Hotels, along with renowned individuals namely Shankar Mahadevan, Vivek Oberoi, Sanjeev Kapoor, and Sonali Bendre have joined hands with Akshaya Patra in this initiative.
Conclusion
Hidden hunger is a matter of utmost concern. More so, when the nation is preparing to embrace the reputation of being home to the youngest and largest working-age populations in the world. At such a watershed moment, all we can do is come together in support of providing nutritious meals to the children of India who will soon shoulder the responsibilities of the nation. Donate for children and feed the future. Let us together conquer hunger by targetting hidden hunger.
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