Mahasamund. Mahasamund. The state is about to complete 25 years of its formation, and a Silver Jubilee Festival is being organized on this occasion. Over the past years, the Women and Child Development Department has been making continuous efforts to improve the health and nutrition levels of women and children. As a result, the district has achieved remarkable achievements in this direction. The rate of malnutrition has been steadily declining over the past eight years. While 33.18 percent of children were malnourished in 2017-18, this figure has been reduced to almost half by 2024-25. District Program Officer for Women and Child Development, Mr. Tikvendra Jatwar, stated that to fulfill the department’s core responsibilities, six key services, such as vaccination, health check-ups, referral services, supplementary nutrition, health and nutrition education, and pre-school informal education, are being provided through Anganwadis. The Sanjivani Anganwadi Program is being implemented to provide fully equipped Anganwadi centers, providing facilities such as toilets, drinking water, rainwater harvesting, coolers, and televisions. Electronic and salter weighing machines, infantometers, and stadiometers have been provided to measure the weight and height of children and pregnant women. Take-home rations (ready-to-eat) are being provided to women and children, including adolescent girls. To improve nutrition levels, milk, protein-rich foods, moringa bars, laddus, and eggs are distributed to children and pregnant women under the Amrit Doodh Yojana, hot cooked food distribution, nutrition camp, nutrition garden, Chief Minister’s nutrition campaign, and the newborn scheme.
To measure and raise awareness about children’s health indicators, Weight Festivals, Nutrition Month, Nutrition Fortnight, and Breastfeeding Week are organized annually. Malnourished children are identified and enrolled in nutrition rehabilitation centers and child development programs. The department also organizes child referral camps, where children’s health is checked and free medicines are distributed. As a result of these efforts, the malnutrition figures in the district have steadily declined. While the malnutrition rate was 33.18% in 2017-18, it decreased to 28.7% in 2018-19, 26.8% in 2019-20, 24.03% in 2020-21, 23.49% in 2021-22, 21.87% in 2022-23, 19.67% in 2023-24, and 16.32% in 2024-25.
The department is continuously making efforts not only in the direction of nutrition but also in pre-school informal education. Similar to play schools, colorful games and study materials have been provided for children in Anganwadis to encourage them to learn through play. Through the Village Health, Sanitation, and Nutrition Day, adolescent girls are also being educated on nutrition, physical development, and menstrual hygiene. In a move towards improved Anganwadi management and e-governance, all work is being conducted through the online nutrition tracker app. For transparency, the Samman Suvidha and Hamar Swasth Laika apps are also being used. Anganwadi workers have also been provided with mobile phones for online work. The Women and Child Development Department is continuously striving to improve the economic and social status of women, not just health and nutrition. The department is implementing important schemes such as the Mahatari Vandan, Saksham Yojana, and Loan Yojana.
