Special Laddoo by NGO to Nourish Girls in Gujarat

Malnutrition has been a great concern in one of the largest milk-producing districts of Asia. NGO uses chef Vikas Khanna's special laddoo recipe to nourish girls in Gujarat. However, for over a year now, Smile Foundation has been successfully working in Banaskantha to fight against anemia, malnutrition among adolescent girls.

"More than 70 percent of the 1,000 girls covered under the project have experienced tremendous improvement in haemoglobin levels as well as the BMI status, leading to improved health and nutrition levels. The program has a footprint across ten villages in Palanpur, touching the lives of more than 1,000 beneficiaries," said Shantanu Mishra, co-founder, Smile Foundation.

Under the initiative named Sampoorna, a total of 15,000 laddoos were distributed to girls over a period of 10 months. The laddoos were given twice a week and had to be consumed at the center itself.

This was supplemented with iron and folic acid tablets at periodic intervals. In addition, several knowledge enhancement activities were conducted among girls and the community pertaining to food and nutrition like kitchen gardening, which underlined the importance of healthy eating habits and a balanced diet.

"A baseline study conducted in the region by Smile Foundation to assess the nutritional status of adolescent girls (14 to 19 years), revealed that 78 percent of adolescent girls are anemic (varying from mild to severe), a much higher percentage than the national average of 50.3 percent," Mishra said.

The project is in alignment with the government's Poshiyan Abhiyan and Anaemia Mukt Bharat initiative that endeavors to reduce the prevalence of anemia by 3 percent points per year between 2018 and 2022.

Source-IANS