Minutes of First Meeting of the National Coordination Committee on Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) held on 27thJanuary, 2016
The first meeting of the National Coordination Committee on Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) was held under the Chairpersonship of Dr. Rajesh Kumar, Joint Secretary (Nutrition), MWCD, on 27th January, 2016 at 3:30 PM in Room No. 305 A Wing, Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi. The list of participants is annexed.
2. At the outset, Joint Secretary, WCD, Chairman of the Committee, expressed a warm welcome to all the members present in the meeting.
3. Dr. Rajesh Kumar, Joint Secretary (Nutrition), in his keynote address highlighted the importance of Infant and Young Child Nutrition and the need for development of Operational Guidelines on Infant & Young Child Feeding Practices for ICDS as well as Nation-wide implementation of the Guidelines and IMS Act.
4. A presentation was made on Infant & Young Child Feeding Practices highlighting the present scenario of IYCF with regard to initiation of breastfeeding within one hour, exclusive breastfeeding upto 6 months & complementary feeding along with breastfeeding from 6 months onwards. The recommendations of National Steering Committee on IYCF held under the Chairpersonship of Secretary, MWCD on 24.9.2015 were also highlighted.
5. Deliberations were held on the following issues:
- Coordination and integration of activities relating to Breastfeeding and IYCF.
- Advise on measures to protect, promote and support breastfeeding and optimal infant & young child feeding practices.
- Identification of issues for the effective implementation of National Plan of Action.
- Review of related issues and initiatives on breastfeeding and infant and young child feeding.
- Identification of departments, organizations, agencies etc. for involvement in the promotion of breastfeeding and enforcement of IMS Act.
- To chalk out action plan as per the directives of National Steering Committee on Infant and Young Child Feeding.
6. After detailed deliberations, the following points were recommended by the committee:
- To update National Guidelines on IYCF including updated information on HIV etc. with comments from the members.
- To revise the draft Operational Guidelines on Infant & Young Child Feeding containing important action points for use by ICDS functionaries, doctors, nurses, paramedics & public at large.
- To provide IYCF Counsellors in hospitals/facilities having institutional delivery. NABH may be asked to incorporate provision of IYCF counsellor in its accreditation protocol and also to screen the film developed on the subject in all its accredited hospitals.
- Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship may be requested to include development of IYCF counselor in the skill development category.
- NIPCCD would prepare chapters on IYCF for Class 9th, 10th, 11th& 12thfor inclusion in school text books.
- To disseminate knowledge for skill development in IYCF, NIPCCD, New Delhi to develop a base paper.
- It was also recommended that NIPCCD would develop a training module for about 4 days for PRIs, ICDS functionaries, ASHA workers, etc. This training could be provided through SIRDs/ATCs in the States/UTs.
The meeting ended with a Vote of Thanks to the Chair.
Annexure
List of participants
- Dr. Rajesh Kumar, Joint Secretary (Nutrition), MWCD Chairperson
- Dr. J B. Sharma, Professor of Obstt Gynae, AIIMS
- Dr. (Smt.) Rita Patnaik, Deputy Director, NIPCCD
- Smt. R. Jaya, Joint Secretary, M/o I&B
- Ms. Mridula Bajaj, Executive Director, Mobile Crèche
- Dr. J P Dadhich, National Coordinator, BPNI
- Dr. B G Pandian, Marketing Officer, M/o Food Processing Industries
- Sh. J N Prajapati, Deputy Director (LM), D/o Consumer Affairs
- Dr. Ajay Khera, Dy. Commissioner (CH), MoHFW
- Dr. K K Agarwal, Indian Medical Association
- Dr. V.K. Mounga, Dean, IMA-CGP
- Dr. Mira Shiva, National Authority of Women’s Empowerment
- Mr. R.P. Pant, Director, MWCD
- Dr. S. Premi Devi, Deputy Technical Adviser, FNB
- Mrs. Anita Makhijani, Deputy Technical Adviser, FNB
- Ms. Shalini Gupta, Assistant Technical Adviser, FNB
Attachment