NATIONAL NUTRITION WEEK CELEBRATION BY MANIPAL UNIVERSITY

The National Nutrition Week is observed annually in India from 1^st  to 7^th September, an initiative taken by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India. Also, as per UGC & Ministry of Human Resource Development, 1^st to 15^th September is declared as the “Swachhata Pakhwada”.

To commemorate these two occasions, more than hundred students of MSc Dietetics and Applied Nutrition, Department of Allied Hospitality Studies, Manipal Academy of Higher Education took out a “Nutrition and Hygiene Awareness Rally” on 6^th September 2017 with the theme “Let us build wellness and cleanliness rather than treating disease”. The rally was flagged off from the Welcomgroup Graduate School of Hotel Administration by the Principal Prof Parvadhavardhini Gopalakrishnan at 9:30 am. The rally was headed by Mrs Meenakshi Garg, HOD, M.Sc. Dietetics and Applied Nutrition and accompanied by MSc DAN faculty - Mrs. Pallavi G Shettigar, Mrs. Swathi Acharya, Mrs. Namratha Pai and Mr Raghavendra (Assistant Professors). The rally went through MARENA, Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences and a brief halt at the manipal.edu building where the Swachh Bharath pledge was taken by everyone.

Throughout the rally, the students held banners and placards and chanted slogans on various aspects of nutrition, health and hygiene in both Kannada and English. The rally then headed towards the Anganwadi Centre in Adarsh Nagar, Manipal. At the Anganwadi Centre, a Nutrition and Hygiene Awareness Program was organized for the kids and their parents. The program included cleaning the surroundings of the anganwadi & it’s premises. Storytelling, reciting rhymes, video presentation were used as means to convey information on various aspects of holistic nutrition, healthy living & hygiene practices, sanitation and hand washing. The department also planted saplings to start a vegetables & fruits garden with the objective of improving the micronutrient status of children through the regular intake of fresh vegetables and fruits in their daily anganwadi diet.

The awareness program was very well received and appreciated by the children, their parents and anganwadi teacher. As the saying goes “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”, healthy lifestyle and good nutritious food cures a disease better than medicines leading to a healthy life.

The Nutrition Awareness Rally, started with objective of generating awareness on importance of nutrition and hygiene for health turned up to be very fruitful and successful.