By Muskan Gupta,
“It is health that is the real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.” – Mahatma Gandhi
It is rightly said, and it is clearly evident in these unprecedented times, where the pandemic has hit the entire world, making us realize the importance of a healthy lifestyle.
Youth for Sustainability Dialogues #Y4SD, a global showcase and learning platform, held a session on 9th April 2021, Healthy Living- Prioritising Nutrition which focused on SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) and SDG 3 (Good Health and Well Being). The panelists for the session were Mahesh Londhe, Social Entrepreneur, and Pradyut Voleti, Founder of Dribble Academy Foundation, and the session was moderated by Arshveer Kaur, Associate Program Manager of Connecting Dreams Foundation, India. Also, the expert for the session was Ms. Sonam, Founder and Director of HEALTH IN STYLE.
Ms. Sonam has been working in the field of nutrition for almost 15 years and addressed the concerns relating to Healthy Living and the need to prioritise health in this fast-paced world. Her organization currently, is working with 5000 clients globally and treating people suffering from weight loss/gain, PCOD, Child Nutrition, Lifestyle, Changes, Cholesterol, Stress Eating, etc. They are involved in studying the science of food and nutrition and their client’s eating behaviors, to prevent and cure illness and also assisting them in living a holistic life.
Whereas Dribble Academy Foundation aims to address three major issues which are physical wellness through athleticism and skill development, social-emotional wellness through life skills improvement and community wellness through active community engagement. The organisation is working with 3000 children across Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. They want to spread awareness about the importance of sports in rural India. The main problem in the rural community is the lack of access of children to any kind of organised sports activity. So, to help unprivileged Indian kids, Dribble Academy Foundation came into existence. Their mission is to provide 100,000 rural children with the opportunity to participate and enjoy sports.
Now Coming to Millets, which are not only beneficial for society but also for the health of individuals, are helpful in preventing various diseases and helping in optimising the kidney and immune system. Though there has been a decline in the production and use of millets, Indradhanush Youth Social Foundation, is working towards the eradication of malnutrition and anaemia by mainstreaming millets in the diets of people. They have targeted tribal areas and are working on introducing different types of millets in the tribal areas which will further help solve the problem of malnutrition and anaemia in those areas also helping them in tackling rural poverty, malnutrition and adaptation to climate change. With constant efforts, the organization has been able to achieve certain milestones by including millets in mid-day meals for nutritional value and have also distributed it to pregnant and lactating mothers, adolescent girls and Anganwadi students. They have also built training and capacity building for SHG and Anganwadi workers for millet-based recipes. The organization also conducted a nutritional education campaign and distributed millets products.
The insightful event was further concluded with a keynote address by Ms. Sonam who extracted the main ideas by the different panelists.
