HealthPhone Launches Poshan | Nutrition Mobile Apps in 18 Languages

NEW DELHI - March 16, 2017 - PRLog -- Today, nearly every second child in India is a victim of malnutrition. It means they are physically and mentally weak due to which they are targets to many ailments, deformities, disabilities and allergies affecting normal growth mentally and physically.

The vast majority of Indian families and women do not follow the following practices:

• 75% of new mothers are anaemic and most put on less weight during pregnancy than they should. This leads to unhealthy foetal growth, low birth weight and non-genetic congenital abnormalities in babies.

• Colostrum is essential because it prepares the baby's digestive system for the mature milk that the baby will receive in the next few days. Colostrum is rich in nutrients such as zinc, calcium and vitamins.

• Exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months reduces infant mortality due to protection from common childhood illnesses such as diarrhoea or pneumonia, and helps for a quicker recovery during illness.

• From the seventh month, breast milk is no longer enough to meet the nutritional needs of the infant. Timely, adequate, frequent and appropriate complementary feeding should be started.

To address this challenge and lay the foundation for combating malnutrition in India, The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Hyderabad, a research and development organization under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India has developed HealthPhone Poshan mobile apps in 18 Indian languages: Assamese • Bengali • English • Garo • Gujarati • Hindi • Kannada • Khasi • Konkani • Malayalam • Manipuri • Marathi • Mizo • Odia • Punjabi • Tamil • Telugu • Urdu​

The Poshan | Nutrition series of 41 videos, produced by the Ministry of Women and Child Development and UNICEF, are incorporated within each of these apps and they address issues of the status of women, the care of pregnant women and children under two, breastfeeding and the importance of a balanced diet, health and simple changes in nutritional care practices that can notably enhance nutrition levels. They provide health and nutrition education through repetition of messages using drama vignettes of children with problems due to previous malnutrition – and the emphasis that the damage done by malnutrition in early life is largely permanent and reinforce the following key messages:

• Maternal Nutrition: Expecting mothers should get the correct diet and quarter portions more than usual.
• Early Initiation: Mother's first milk is the best, don't throw it away and make sure the child gets it.
• Exclusive Breastfeeding: For the first six months the child should only be fed mother's milk and nothing else, not even water.
• Complementary Foods: When the child enters the seventh month, balance mother's milk with a nutritious diversified diet.

With the distribution of these Free mobile apps, HealthPhone [ http://healthphone.org ] is leveraging the rapidly increasing penetration of smartphones in the country to educate millions of girls and women between 13 and 35 years of age and their families on better health and nutrition practices.

Install HealthPhone Poshan mobile apps in 18 Indian Languages - available NOW from Google Play Store https://play.google.com/store/search?q=Poshan+HealthPhone

The Mother and Child Health and Education Trust (MCHET) is a charitable trust that strongly advocates for the power of knowledge to educate, motivate, empower and inspire communities, and particularly women, to improve health practices for the benefit of children.  HealthPhone ( http://healthphone.org ) is a strategic and creative initiative of MCHET.

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