ZP chairperson wants administration to make Karimnagar anemia free

Zilla Parishad Chairperson Kanumalla Vijaya wanted the district administration to work hard to make the district an anemia free zone.

Karimnagar: Zilla Parishad Chairperson Kanumalla Vijaya wanted the district administration to work hard to make the district an anemia free zone.

Participating in the distribution of nutritious food to malnutritioned children by the Women and Child Welfare department as part of the Poshan Abhiyaan programme here on Saturday, Vijaya appreciated the district administration for helping the women to overcome anemia and asked the officials to continue with similar efforts.

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She also appreciated the administration for its efforts to make the district a role model to the country in overcoming the anemia problem. It was a great decision to provide a special food made of millets to malnutritioned children, she said, adding it was the first time in the country that Anganwadi teachers and ASHA workers were conducting blood tests for women in the district. It was possible to overcome anemia through nutritious food and iron tablets, she added.

Collector RV Karnan said there was a possibility that women suffering from anemia could be exposed to longstanding health problems. As a part of efforts to declare Karimnagar an anemia free district, blood tests were being done for all women in the district. Initially, tests were done on Anganwadi and ASHA workers to identify the anemic among them. Later, it was expanded to all women.

Additional Collector Garima Agarwal informed that a special programme was launched to increase the weight of malnutritioned children. The programme would be taken up for 10 minutes every Tuesday. Lactating women, pregnant ladies and children suffering from malnutrition would be identified by conducting grama sabhas every Tuesday. Anganwadi teachers would provide special food to them till they reached normal weight, while family members would also be given counseling by visiting their houses, she said.

Anganwadi teachers displayed 300 varieties of food at the event. ZP CEO Priyanka, District Welfare Officer K Sabitha, Corporator Jitender, CWC chairman Dhanalaxmi, DMHO Juveria, DRDA PD Srilatha and others were present.