Bhilai, Feb 11, 2019: Women and Child Development Minister Anila Bhediya on Monday inaugurated the weight festival being celebrated in the state at the ideal Anganwadi Center in Borsi. The Minister volunteered to take weight of a number of children at the centre and checked the level of their health and well-being. While accomplishing the task of taking weight, the Minister gave away chocolates to the children which brought smiles on their faces.
Giving information about the purpose and importance of the weight festival, she said that weight festival is being observed in all Anganwadi centers of the state to assess the level of malnutrition prevailing among children and based on the data so collected, measures need to overcome undernourishment such as giving nutritious food would be planned. She added that during the festival in the Anganwadi centers, health status of pregnant mothers and teenage girls will also be examined. She further added that through the Women and Child Development Department, the children at the Centres will now be given an egg once in a week. Children who do not eat eggs, they will be given nutritious fruits, she added. She revealed that under the Chief Minister Amrut Yojana, children are currently given milk once in a week which would be increased to twice per week. This will help to make the children healthy and well-nurtured. The WCD Minister inspected the Borsi Anganwadi centre which is also an ideal centre and appreciated it. She also interacted with the teenage girls and pregnant mothers and gave necessary suggestions. During her visit, District Collector Ankit Anand, project officers and officers from the Women and Child Development Department were also present.
Here it needs a mention that the Women and Child Development Department is organising Weight Festival for children in the age group of 0 to 5 years across all Anganwadi centers of the district from February 11 to February 20. During this period depending on the nutritional level of children, efforts will be made to run innovative schemes along with the prevailing schemes to remove malnutrition by the department. In the district, all the 1486 anganwadi centres have been equipped with electronic weighing machines for weighing children. The target is to check the health of about one lakh twenty one thousand children studying at the Anganwadi Centres. Along with the measurement of the weight of the child, their heights will also be taken into record, on the basis of which the percentage of dwarfism and weakness in the child will be calculated. In particular, this year, the weight of the school drop out children in the age group of 11 to 18 years will be taken in Anganwadi centers and their Body Mass Index will be determined and with the help of the Health Department, hemoglobin tests will be performed for all children which would prove useful in preparing necessary plan of action for the elimination of anemia.