Laying special emphasis on the health of women and children and battling against malnutrition, Poshan Pakhwara (Nutrition Fortnight) is being observed fro March 8 to March 22 wherein an array of activities will be held in Mansa district. The fortnight celebrations will begin from village Makhewala from March 8. Also an anemia screening cap will be held at Mata Sundri Collegve the same day.Giving this information here today at a meeting convened to discuss activities to be held during the Nutrition Fortnight, the Deputy Commissioner Mansa Apneet Riyait stated that district Mansa was included amongst the seven districts of Punjab in the first phase of Poshan Abhiyaan. The district was also conferred national award for its excellent work under the Poshan Maah Abhiyaan. "With the award comes more responsibility to outshine own previous record. Living up to that, we have planned a number of activities in Mansa to create awareness on the issue and ensure that every Mansa citizen, especially children and women, are in pink of health," she said. The Nutrition Fortnight also marks first anniversary of the Poshan Abhiyaan across the country.During the fortnight celebrations various street plays, nutrition fairs, cycle rallies, prabhat feries, farmer meetings, free anemia detection camps and other such programs are being organized.
Besides this the District Program Officer will hold baby shower functions for the expecting mothers and distribute panjiris to the new mothers. Presence of a large number of people will be ensured in these activities to take the message of nutritious food to every household . These functions will also be held at anganwaris and government hospitals. Addressing the aanganwari supervisors present at the meeting Miss Riyait stated that special emphasis be laid on the children suffering from malnutrition . She said that after 2 months, the district administration will conduct checking of the children who have been listed as malnourished. It will be done to check the weight and parameters of growth to ensure that the health of these children improves.The health department, water works and sanitation, MNREGA and district education office will also contribute towards making the events a success. ADC (D) Mr Gurmeet Singh Sidhu, SDM Sardulgarh Mr Latif Ahmed, Civil Surgeon Dr Lal Chand Thakral, District Program Officer Mrs Avinash Kaur, district coordinator MREGA Mr Mandeep Singh, Swasth Bharat Prerak Mr Aditya Madaan and anganwari supervisors were also present.