In India, the National Nutrition Week is observed every year from September 1 to September 7 to raise public awareness about nutrition and healthy eating habits among the Indian public.
The week is observed to make people understand the importance of nutritional and adaptive eating habits so that they can maintain a healthy lifestyle free of illness and especially when we lived through the covid times so the awareness regarding health is very crucial.
Unfortunately India has some of the highest rates of malnutrition especially among children and although the situation has improved drastically through various government programs in recent times but still there is a long way to go.
| Event | National Nutrition Week |
|---|---|
| Date of Start | September 1, 2022 |
| Day of Start | Thursday |
| Significance | Increases nutrition awareness and healthy eating habits |
| Observed by | India |
National Nutrition Week History:
In 1975, the members of the American Dietetic Association (ADA), now called as the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, started the National Nutrition Week in March in the United States. It was observed to raise public awareness about the value of good nutrition in life but also to promote the profession of dietitians among the people as they were often neglected as a profession.
And this initiative received a very warm response that from a week long celebration it turned into a month long celebration in the US. Inspired by this movement the Indian government also decided to start it's own National Nutrition Week for the same purpose of educating individuals about the importance of nutrition and to encourage them towards adopting a healthy lifestyle.
As a result the National Nutrition Week campaign was launched for the first time in India in 1982. And since then the Indian government have launched various schemes and programs in regards for elimination of malnutrition and less nutrition among the Indian people and the efforts done by government have seen success too as it helped in bring down malnutrition percentage but still there is large chunk of population left who are suffering from malnutrition so still there is a long way to go for ending malnutrition.
Thus to increase its efforts towards eradicating malnutrition and to promote healthy lifestyle among the Indians, the government of India have launched various initiatives in recent times like Poshan Abhiyan for creating awareness regarding healthy issues and Fit India Movement for encouraging people to remain fit and healthy.
National Nutrition Week Significance:
For a healthy survival one must requires the essential nutrients and food for growth and a long and good lifestyle. Nutrients such as carbohydrates, fibers, fats, proteins, minerals, proteins, vitamins and water must be an important part of our diet to maintain our immune system always healthy.
Because of the lack of nutrients in a body a person's immune system becomes very vulnerable to viruses and bacterias present in our atmosphere and as a result we easily gets affected with viral fevers, cold and covid especially when we have recently seen the devastation caused by it and we certainly don't want that to happen now but new emergence of diseases like monkeypox now continues to come so it is important to be preventive.
It is a known fact that a good nutrition diet is essential for a healthy mind and body. And there are very famous sayings like 'health is wealth' which continuously reminds us of the importance of health. And thus this 7 days long event is very important and is organized by the India's Ministry of Women and Child Development every year.
During these event government organizes huge programs across the country to observe it during which a large number of workers and even people volunteers for spreading awareness regarding health and nutrition.
National Nutrition Week Theme:
Every year while celebrating the National Nutrition Week, the government of India also launches a specific theme in which it keeps the focus mostly regarding the specific theme of that year.
The theme for National Nutrition Week in 2021 was "feeding smart right from start". So as you can see that this theme is mostly applied to parents to keep a good and healthy eating habits for their children from the start. It gives a suggestion to the parents to make their children eats healthy and nutritional food from the start itself so that they would be already in habit of intaking healthy food in this way we can end malnutrition.
The theme for the National Nutrition Week in 2022 has been announced by the government of India and it is "Celebrate a World of Flavours." The goal of the theme is to encourage people to enjoy and taste cuisine from different parts of the world while keeping the focus on healthy nutrition. It wants people to enhance their diet so that they can get all the required nutrition.
Most Searched FAQs for National Nutrition Week:
1. When is National Nutrition Week is observed?
National Nutrition Week is observed annually on every first week of September in India.
2. What is National Nutrition Mission?
National Nutrition Mission or Poshan Abhiyan is an initiative launched by government of India in 2018 which aims to tackle malnutrition problem prevalent in India.
3. When was National Nutrition Week started?
The National Nutrition Week was launched by the Indian government for the first time in 1982.