The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development proposes a global rethink to strengthen collaborative action towards the goal of ending malnutrition in all its forms and promoting healthy- sustainable diets to ensure food and nutrition security and better public health outcomes.
Towards improving public health outcomes, accelerating convergence between public health and nutrition systems is key. There is a need to shift from a repair-based healthcare system to a preventive healthcare system for which focusing on correct nutrition delivery is crucial.
Convergence of delivery systems, in the agriculture , nutrition and the health ecosystem can significantly improve public health nutrition outcomes. Technology can help both train front line workers to equip them and improve real time diagnostics for improved delivery and strengthening the framework for a robust preventive healthcare system.
In India, the profile of malnutrition is changing rapidly. While we are witnessing some progress on indicators as regards undernutrition, there is a concurrent challenge along with rising levels overweight/obesity and micronutrient deficiencies leading to “Triple Burden of malnutrition”.
Due to the widespread burden of malnutrition and its importance for public health, it is important to broad base the key actions towards building greater convergence in national and regional efforts. Policy actions are required at a multisectoral level to achieve global public health targets. The crisis brought about by the CoVID 19 pandemic has further brought out the role of improved immunity in mitigating adverse outcomes.
Speaking on the importance of partnerships towards strengthening public health, Dr Randeep Guleria, Chairman, CII Public Health Council and Director All India Institute of Medical Sciences, mentioned, ‘Going forward a robust Public Health framework needs to be created through coordination of all sectors including health, nutrition, sanitation and environment, Further, the delivery needs to be ensured leveraging public-private partnerships.”
In parallel to challenges of nutrition, India also suffers from ‘Hunger’, despite being the one of the world’s largest producers of milk & pulses and the second-largest producer of rice, wheat, vegetables and fruits. As per Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2019, India has been ranked 102 out of the qualifying 117 countries that were assessed.
Dr. Anupa Siddu, Director, Lady Irwin College spoke about the issues of dearth of awareness regarding health and nutrition at community level. She mentioned, that ‘There needs to be a shift from a volunteer model towards creating a cadre of skilled community level workers towards ensuring last mile delivery of nutrition and public health.
Prof. K Srinath Reddy, President, Public Health Foundation of India, reiterated this fact during his address on Actions towards strengthening public health systems. Dr Reddy mentioned that ‘‘India needs to move towards people partnered public healthcare, which can be achieved through accountability and monitoring of government schemes at the top, community awareness and last mile connectivity at grassroot level, and partnerships for public purpose.”
Ms. Vinita Bali, Chairperson, CII National Committee on Nutrition mentioned that convergence is key towards accelerating nutrition delivery for improved public health outcomes and emphasized the importance for establishing accountability to enable effective implementation.
The third edition of CII’s National Nutrition Conclave brought together Government, Regulatory Agencies, Industry, Academia, Research Institutes, Associations and Technical Experts from across the globe to promote more coordinated and focused actions to help eliminate hunger, food insecurity and create a roadmap for strengthening the ecosystem for nutrition towards meeting the SDG goals.
The role of the private sector is also critical and depending on areas of operation, private players need to promote climate smart agriculture, diet diversity, nutrition campaigning as well as nutrient-dense food production towards accelerating the nutrition agenda.
Going forward, it will be critical to strengthen the Public Health agenda with multisectoral alliances reaching out to all the sections of the society, ensuring equitable healthcare access and affordable nutrition for all. This will ensure that India moves towards meeting the SDG target of Good Health and Well Being for all by 2030.