Patna: More than 11.88 lakh Jeevika self-help groups across Bihar are taking part in the ninth National Nutrition Month campaign, with a focus on improving awareness about maternal and child nutrition through community outreach and village-level activities.The month-long campaign, being observed from Sept 9 to Oct 8 under the theme “HamariAnganwadiHamariJimmedari”, is being implemented by Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society (Jeevika) under the National Rural Livelihoods Mission. It targets pregnant women, lactating mothers and children aged seven to 23 months.According to an official release issued on Wednesday, the campaign is being carried out through 11.88 lakh self-help groups, over 73,000 village organisations and 1,684 cluster-level federations across all 38 districts of the state.Nutrition awareness has been integrated into weekly SHG meetings, where members are being sensitised about dietary diversity, millet consumption, anaemia prevention, breastfeeding, complementary feeding, kitchen gardens and hygiene practices.At the grassroots level, Jeevika Didis are organising nutrition rallies, prabhat pheris, meetings with Anganwadi centres, and menstrual hygiene and anaemia screening camps for adolescent girls. Traditional events such as God Bharai and Annaprashan ceremonies are also being used to spread nutrition-related messages.Cluster-level federations, in coordination with district administrations, ICDS and the health department, are conducting nutrition exhibitions and awareness programmes.Officials said trained master resource persons, community nutrition resource persons and Jeevika mitras are carrying out household visits and community training sessions, while monitoring is being undertaken at district, block and panchayat levels to ensure effective implementation of the campaign.
