Fights for a new cause and against a new enemy: Malnutrition. He shares his knowledge and gives pointers

After the Narmada Rehabilitation and the Atithi Devo Bhava campaigns, Aamir Khan is involving himself with one more cause fighting malnutrition.

The actor, who is the public face of the group Citizens' Alliance To Fight Against Malnutrition, was in New Delhi recently to discuss the issue with our nation's decision makers.

AK says, "This alliance was formed by a group of MPs such as Sachin Pilot, Shahnawaz Hussain and Supriya Sule along with 20 or 25 more MPs from different political parties. They came to me and asked me join them. I thought what they were doing is really commendable."

Alarming issue

He reveals that malnutrition is an alarming issue in the country. "One in every two children in India suffers from malnutrition. For our nation to prosper, our kids have to be healthy.

Malnutrition causes physical and mental problems. Often by the time you are 20 or 21 years old, you are not sharp enough because you did not receive the right kind of nutrition as a child."

He adds that it is very important to educate the families, especially the mother, on the importance of proper nutrition for their child, as only when a mother is made aware of the importance of nutrition, can she see to her child's health.

Corrupt system

The group is already planning a campaign to spread awareness through print and television ads. Says the Dhobi Ghaat actor, "A lot of women are economically weak so even if they are made aware, there is little they can do.

The Prime Minister told us that we have programmes and funds allocated for this, but it is the state governments' responsibility to ensure that all the nutrients and supplements reach the mother and the child.

There is corruption in the delivery system and so they do not reach the people. We feel that if we inform mothers that they have the right to get free nutrients and supplements from their local anganwadi, they can then go up to the anganwadi worker and demand it.

Right now, they don't even know they have this right."

However, he insists that this does not mean he is foraying into politics. "I agreed to join the group because it counts a couple of doctors and an NGO as its members. If it had been one political party, I would have refused. I have no interest in politics."

Feeding Facts

The nutrition the mother gets when the baby is in the womb is very important. What many people don't know (I learnt it only recently) is that the mother has to breast feed the baby within an hour of its birth. In the first two or three days, what comes from the mother's breast is a substance called colostrum.

It is slightly yellowish in colour but is very important for the baby and the baby must be fed that. After that the baby should be given breast milk for at least six months though it will be ideal if it could be fed that for 1.5 to two years.

So the first 1000 days of the baby's life nine months in the womb and then breast feeding for two years become the key foundation for the child.