Distribution of fortified wheat flour – atta in Darjeeling Sadar ,
Kalimpong and Kurseong Subdivision through the Public Distribution System .A commitment was made to eliminate the micronutrient malnutrition by every Government in the world by the end of the century at the World Summit for children in 1990 Ending Hidden Hunger in 1991 leading to the birth of The Micronutrient Initiative as an outcome of the International Conference held in 1992.
In continuation to these efforts in the International arena, the Women and Child Development and Social Welfare Department under the Govt of west Bengal, signed an agreement with The MI on the 23rd of July 1999 to supplement the efforts of the Govt of India to eradicate micronutrient malnutrition and thus was born West Bengal Micronutrient Initiative Society.
The west Bengal Micronutrient Initiative Society acts as an independent and autonomous body dedicated to eliminating micronutrient malnutrition and alleviating associated development problems in West Bengal .The Society strives to reduce micronutrient malnutrition in West Bengal to internationally accepted levels with a focus on iron, iodine and vitamin A deficiencies as per the contribution agreement entered upon.
A high level task force was set up and after a situation analysis a state Plan was prepared which recommended 25 activities of which five were taken into consideration in the first instance.
The five interventions taken up for implementation are: -
Distribution of fortified wheat flour – atta in Darjeeling Sadar ,
Kalimpong and Kurseong Subdivision through the Public Distribution System .
Distribution of fortified candies in Howrah and Dakshin Dinajpur to ICDS
beneficiaries comprising of children 2-6 years, pregnant women and lactating
mothers. These candies provide Vitamin A, Iron, Folic acid and Vitamin C.
Distribution of Fortified khichri by adding premix that contains Vitamin
A, Iron and Folic Acid in the districts of South 24 Parganas, Malda, Cooch Behar,
Uttar Dinajpur, Jalpaiguri and Siliguri Subdivision of Darjeeling District.
IEC activities across the districts with specific emphasis on each of the
respective interventions.