The deputy commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma on Thursday asked the officials to make serious efforts for anemia free district. Addressing the gathering during a district-level workshop on 'Anemia Mukt Bharat', Mr Sharma said that anemia major health problem in the country and time has come to eliminate it completely. Mr Sharma said that Poshan Abhiyan is one of a revolutionary program to improve the nutritional indicators of women and children and motivated the officials to leave no stone unturned to make the district anemia and malnutrition free. He said that there is need for having proper coordination between Women and Child Development Department, Health and Family Welfare Department, Rural Development Department, Panchayati Raj institutions, Water Supply and Sanitation Department, Food Supply Department, Human Resources Department and Education Departments and these departments have to play a proactive role by preparing a joint strategy to curb the menace. The deputy commissioner added that all pregnant women and lactating mothers are needed to be sensitized for having the intake of nutritious diet.
He also said that people must be also educated about maintaining cleanliness and changes in their eating habits, activities to be carried out in Anganwari Centres and others etc.Mr Sharma said that Poshan Abhiyan is aimed at achieving improvement in the nutritional status of children from 0-6 years, adolescent girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers. The Deputy Commissioner stated at a time when the junk food and unbalanced diet have become health issues among the children, the awareness drive by the departments over the importance of nutritious diet would bring a change in the society.Civil Surgeon Dr Rajesh Kumar Bagga said that in this drive, the special emphasis is being laid on the children, pregnant women, lactating mothers.Besides, the health department is also distributing the iron, folic acid tablets, Albendazole and are being administrated to the children in the government schools and anganwari centres, he said and added that they are also being educated about the intake of nutritious diet. On this occasion, district immunization officer Dr Tarsem Singh, District Program Officer Mr Narinder Singh Deputy DEO Mr Anil Awasthi, District Epidemiologist Dr Satish Kumar and others were present.