Chhattisgarh has 27 percent children whose lack of nourishment cannot be cured just by feeding but it is necessary to identity their health problems and admit them in health centres, a senior official said on Friday.
The Secretary in the Department of Women and Child Development, Prasanna R, said this as part of an awareness campaign of ‘Poshan Maah’ (Nutrition Month) being observed in Chhattisgarh.
An online training programme was conducted on Friday via webinar to identify serious and moderately malnourished children and their management by the community.
Prasanna told the department officials to work in coordination with the Health Department.
He said that Anganwadi workers and assistants are directly connected to the community and they can play an important role to bring about behaviour change in the society.
UNICEF state head Job Zachariah Said that 68 percent of children died in India due to malnutrition.
It has been observed that malnutrition increases with a disaster. Malnutrition of children is expected to increase by 14 percent after the Covid-19 epidemic, he added.
He called for a fight against both Covid and malnutrition.
Zachariah also underlined the need for breast feeding for six months and the need for diet and vaccination in children.
The webinar was attended by UNICEF Nutrition Specialist Farhat Sayed, Technical Expert from New Delhi Dr. Amar Nidhi and Abhishek Singh from UNICEF.