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Seeking to End the Scourge of Child Malnutrition
Panel discussion
Speakers
Child Malnutrition destroys children’s growth, curbs their multi-faceted development, and leads to failure to achieve their full potential. A particularly crucial point is that children who are malnourished in the early years of their life lose out on most development indicators, and if that window of time is lost, the damage cannot be repaired.
One out of every two Indian children is malnourished, but this silent and insidious killer does not get the attention it deserves.
This panel, composed of experts and practitioners in this field, will discuss the extent and causes of the problem, the actions being taken to combat it, and suggest viable solutions.
Speakers
Dr. Maya Mascarenhas
Dr. Maya Mascarenhas is a Pediatrician and a Community Health Specialist. Having trained and worked in St. John’s Medical College for over 15 years, she has spent the past 18 years
with MYRADA, an NGO focused on integrated rural development. Over the years, she has worked extensively in North and Central Karnataka and other remote areas of Chamrajnagar and Kolar to develop sustainable community models to address anemia and malnutrition in women and children.
With the underlying Myrada philosophy of empowering local communities to help themselves through building community based institutions, they have been able to demonstrate practical models that integrate health and development and show a substantial improvement in the health/nutrition and social indicators.
Dr. Tara M.S
Dr. Tara M.S. is an Independent Consultant with M.Sc. and Ph.D in Food Science and Nutrition. She has had a long, illustrious career in the field of Public Nutrition, Health and Child Development.
As the former Regional Director of National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development ( 2005-2014), she has spearheaded large scale projects across the country. Her expertise in the field of Teaching, Training, Research, and her strong academic pursuits, her interest in the development sector makes her a unique personality.
She has been actively associated with many Govt, sectors, Corporate bodies, Civil Societies, besides with International organisations like ,UNICEF ,WORLDBANK, CARE INDIA SOLUTIONS, for professional Endeavours . Being a member of many think tank Committees working for women and Children , she has contributed for innovations, as also for institutionalising new initiatives and for strengthening the capacities of many stakeholders.
Dr. Tara has a number of publications for her credit and has made valuable contribution in Seminars and conference, both Nationally and Internationally. Her core skills also includes advocacy issues and strategies for reduction of Undernutrition, Food Insecurity, Disaster preparedness and Food Safety issues .
Dr. Padmini
Dr. Padmini is a Child Rights Activist, who has worked for two decades with UNICEF. She is a Founder-Trustee of the Child Rights Trust, Bangalore. She is also a founder-member of the Alliance for Right to ECCD and a charter member of the India Alliance for Child Rights, both national networks.
Her special concerns are on ECCD, child and maternal health and nutrition, and gender issues. She has been a member of several national and state level committees and task forces on such issues and has been involved in training and research on them, as also the overall situation of children through presentations and papers.
Dr. Neetu Sharma
Dr. Neetu Sharma is a development researcher engaged in the work on food and nutrition security with a focus on children.
She is currently heading the programme on Right to Food at the Centre for Child and the Law (CCL), a research centre at National Law school of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore. At the Centre she is engaging in the law and policy research on children’s right to food and nutrition and exploring various ways through the potential of legal framework can be most useful and effective. Her current work revolves around implementation of National Food Security Act , especially from the point of view of ensuring right to food and nutrition for children.
Before joining Centre for Child and the Law (CCL), National Law School of India University (NLSIU), she has also worked with Bachpan Bachao Andolan and FIAN International in New Delhi.
