Micronutrient-deficiency diseases and their control
Key facts
- 1970: The National Prophylaxis Programme Against Nutritional Blindness due to Vitamin A Deficiency made vitamin A supplementation a child-survival int...
- 1962 and 1992: The National Goitre Control Programme began in 1962 and was renamed the National Iodine Deficiency Disorders Control Programme in 1992,...
- 2006: The Food Safety and Standards Act created FSSAI, the national authority that later framed food-fortification standards, including fortified salt...
- 2013: The National Iron Plus Initiative standardised life-cycle Iron and Folic Acid supplementation for children, adolescents, pregnant women, lactati...
- 2018: Anaemia Mukt Bharat introduced a 6x6x6 strategy combining prophylactic IFA, deworming, testing, treatment, behaviour change, and supply-chain st...
Key Points at a Glance
- 1
1970: The National Prophylaxis Programme Against Nutritional Blindness due to Vitamin A Deficiency made vitamin A supplementation a child-survival intervention; children receive 9 doses from 9 months to 5 years.
- 2
1962 and 1992: The National Goitre Control Programme began in 1962 and was renamed the National Iodine Deficiency Disorders Control Programme in 1992, widening the focus from visible goitre to brain development and pregnancy outcomes.
- 3
2006: The Food Safety and Standards Act created FSSAI, the national authority that later framed food-fortification standards, including fortified salt and staples.
- 4
2013: The National Iron Plus Initiative standardised life-cycle Iron and Folic Acid supplementation for children, adolescents, pregnant women, lactating mothers, and women of reproductive age.
- 5
2018: Anaemia Mukt Bharat introduced a 6x6x6 strategy combining prophylactic IFA, deworming, testing, treatment, behaviour change, and supply-chain strengthening.
- 6
2018: POSHAN Abhiyaan was launched to improve convergence, monitoring, and community action for maternal and child nutrition, including micronutrient-related interventions.
- 7
National Deworming Day is held on 10 February and 10 August for children and adolescents aged 1-19 years, helping anaemia control by reducing worm-related blood and nutrient loss.
- 8
In childhood diarrhoea, ORS is paired with zinc for 14 days; the usual programme dose is 10 mg daily for 2-6 months and 20 mg daily from 6 months to 5 years.
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Micronutrients and deficiency disease
Micronutrients are vitamins and minerals needed in small amounts for growth, immunity, metabolism, reproduction, and normal organ function. They do not supply energy like carbohydrates, fats, or proteins, but they are essential for using food properly. A deficiency disease appears when intake, absorption, storage, or utilisation of a micronutrient is insufficient for the body's needs. In recruitment examinations, the high-yield distinction is between macronutrient malnutrition, such as wasting or underweight, and micronutrient malnutrition, often called hidden hunger because a person may look normal but still lack iron, iodine, vitamin A, vitamin D, zinc, folate, or vitamin B12.
Women and children are especially vulnerable because pregnancy, lactation, rapid growth, repeated infections, intestinal worms, low dietary diversity, and food taboos increase requirements or reduce absorption. In ICDS and health-service work, micronutrient control is not only a medical issue; it connects Anganwadi services, school health, maternal care, immunisation sessions, nutrition counselling, sanitation, and food safety. Rajasthan examples include counselling families to use iodised salt, improve dietary diversity with pulses and green leafy vegetables, and attend Village Health, Sanitation and Nutrition Days for supplementation services.
Remember the core idea: micronutrient diseases are prevented through diet, supplementation, fortification, infection control, and behaviour change together.
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