Krishna district to be Anaemia and malnourishment free by January 2018
Vijayawada: Krishna district would be Anaemia and malnourishment free by January 2018. It will be the first district in the country to achieve this status. The recent statistics released by the GoAP has indicated that Krishna is ahead of all the districts, in the States in health as well other development parameters. A survey carried out across the state over the performance of districts in improvement of nutritional status of children below five years and Anaemia among pregnant women, has suggested that Krishna district is doing extremely well and has secured first rank, in addressing issues related to Severely Under Weight (SUW), Moderate Acute malnourishment (MAM), Severe Acute malnourishment (SAM), and stunting.
Districts like- Anatapur, Guntur, Prakasham, Kurnool and East Godavari are performing in a fair way, according to the survey. However, districts like – Chittoor, Visakhapatnam, Nellore, Vizianagaram, West Godavari, Kadapa and Sreekakulam needs improvement in those - SUW, MAM, SAM, and Stunting segments.
Speaking on the same, the District Collector Mr B. Lakshmikantham said that by January 2018 the district would be declared as Anaemia and malnourishment free. “We have initiated several programmes to support the cause of children below five years, pregnant women and lactating mothers, in Krishna district and now the result shows that we have achieved the goal,” explained Mr Lakshmikantham.
As part of making the district Anemia free, the district administration has taken up another reform of supporting adolescent girls, pregnant women, and lactating mothers with iron supplements and nutritious food. “We found women suffering from Anemia, in the areas like Nuziveedu and as part of supporting their cause, we have segregated the people and areas identified with less hemoglobin,” said Mr Lakshmikantham. In the first phase, the administration will take care of the 10,000 girls and women, in order to extend nutritional support to them.
“There are three segments-one is less than 8 grams hemoglobin, second one is 8 to 10 and the third one is 10 to 12 grams,” he said and added that acoording to these percentages, we support them with iron and nutritional supplements. By January 2018, the district will become zero-Anemia district, according to World Health Organisation (WHO) standards. In fact, several teams are already working on improving nutritional standards of girls and women said Mr Lakshmikantham.
