Chief Minister Hemant Soren today emphasized the need for addressing malnutrition in the state on war footing. He was speaking at the second meeting of the State Nutrition Council here today.
The Nutrition Council expressed satisfaction over the recently launched programme of Jeevan Asha to address malnutrition in the state. He expressed the need for creating more awareness about the issue relating to malnutrition.
Soren instructed all departments to disseminate the information through street dramas, audio visual films in villages, at Haats and other places.
The Chief Minister advised Deputy Commissioners of districts to ensure that all children avail the services of anganwadi kendras including poshahar and immunization. He said that all children identified in the villages as ‘Ati Kuposhit’ should be immediately referred to the malnutrition treatment centre in the district. There is a need for nutrition surveillance by the community in every village, he said.
Minister Annapurna Devi said that community based management of malnutrition is the need of the state as many mothers are not able to go to the hospitals; therefore, Jeevan Asha is critical and more relevant in the context of the state. She mentioned that a statewide survey on nutrition should be done by a reputed agency, as the current available data on malnutrition is as old as 2006.
WCD Principal Secretary Mridula Sinha made presentation on the situation of malnutrition in the state and interventions initiated in the state to address malnutrition. This included Jeevan Asha programme, Iron supplementation program for adolescents in schools and villages, special gram sabhas on nutrition, and campaigns on breastfeeding, nutrition and hand washing with soap.
The meeting was attended by the Development Commissioner, Mr. A.K. Sarkar, Additional Chief Secretary, Drinking Water and Sanitation Department, Mr. Sudir Prasad, Health Secretary, Mr. K. Vidyasagar, Mr. D.K. Tiwari, Principal Secretary, HRD, Mr. Sukhdeo Singh-Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Mr. Khaitgte, Principal Secretary Panchayati Raj, Mr. Arun Kumar Singh, Principal Secretary, Urban Development, Mr. Rajeev Arun Ekka, Secretary, Welfare, Mr. Job Zachariah, CFO, UNICEF, Ms. Puja Singhal, Director, Social Welfare and DCs from Ramgarh, Hazaribagh and Dhanbad. Deepika Sharma –UNICEF, among others.
