Centre Directs State Govts to Hold Awareness Workshops to Promote Fortified Rice

The Department of Food and Public Distribution (DFPD) has requested that various States such as Gujarat, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Telangana, Rajasthan, and Kerala organize workshops/seminars to promote the benefits of Fortified Rice while elucidating concerns about the impact of its consumption among some sections of the population who are vulnerable to Thalassemia and Sickle Cell Anaemia.

The Gujarat government carried out this initiative by holding workshops at Meril Academy in Vapi on September 9, 2022, attended by the Finance Minister of Gujarat, the Minister of Food and Public Distribution of Gujarat, the State Minister of Food and Public Distribution of Gujarat, and other higher officers of the Gujarat government, as well as officers from the Department of Food and Public Distribution of India, technical experts, and members of the media.

Fortified staples offered through social safety net programmes were discussed in a presentation by Neha Arora, State Programme Officer, Nutritional International, Gujarat. In order to better understand hemoglobinopathies-sickle cell anaemia and thalassemia, Dr. Yazdi Italia, a former honorary director of the Sickle Cell Anemia Control Programme, a Go-NGO Partnership Program of the Gujarati government, gave a presentation. 

Similar to this, Prof. (Dr.) Sirimavo Nair, Nodal Officer for Gujarat (NFSA Concurrent Evaluation D/o Food & PD-Govt. of India), gave a presentation on the benefits of fortified staples for promoting public health.

Along with giving a presentation, Dr. Bhavesh Bariya, Assistant Professor in the Department of Community Medicine at NAMO-MERI-Silvasa, discussed fortified staples and their impact on hemoglobinopathy. The presentations were followed by a panel discussion moderated by technical experts and FCI and D/o Food & PD officials.

Several leading Gujarati local newspapers covered the event. At the end of the workshop, there was broad agreement on the positive impact of rice fortification in government programmes and its importance to the country's nutritional security strategy.