Bhubaneswar: Focusing on the importance of de-worming and ensuring better health and improved nutritional status for all children in the 1-19 age group, the Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Odisha, in collaboration with the UNICEF organised a press meet here Monday just ahead of the bi-annual round of the National Deworming Day campaign and vitamin A supplementation programme February 8. On the occasion, Lingaraj Mishra, Director, Family welfare, Bipin Bihari Panigrahi, Director, Health Services, and others were present.
Addressing the gathering, Mishra said, “Regular deworming prevents children from intestinal parasitic worms that can lead to anaemia, malnutrition, impaired mental, physical and cognitive development and reduced school participation. Under the February round of the National Deworming Day bi-annual campaign, the Odisha government aims to reach approximately 1.3 crore children in the 1-19 year age group across all 30 districts, in convergence with major government departments: Health and family Welfare, Women and child development, School and Mass education, Panchayati Raj and ST & SC Development and Minorities and Backward Classes Welfare Department.
He said, “A child who is not dewormed on the National Deworming Day (February 8, 2019) due to sickness or absenteeism will be administered the tablet February 14 2019 on the Mop up Day”.
“Further, in four districts of Odisha (Angul, Bhadrak, Ganjam and Nayagarh) where there is a prevalence of lymphatic filariasis, we are combining the NDD round with Lymphatic Filariasis- Mass Drug Administration campaign (LF-MDA) through door-to-door visits by the drug administrators”. “Apart from the above programmes the state government is also going to implement bi-annual Vitamin A supplementation campaign in February 2019. Under this programme all children between 9 months and 5 years will be administered age-specific vitamin A dose at the RI session sites and special VHNDs in all 30 districts of the state,” he added.
Panigrahi emphasised the importance of mass awareness about the campaign. National Deworming Day is one of the largest public health campaigns and aims to deworm all children between the ages of 1 and 19 years through government, government-aided, private schools and Anganwadi centres.