Speed Post News Network
New Delhi : A ‘Test and Treat’ camp for anaemia has been organised at Nirman Bhawan for ten days. The objective of this camp is to generate awareness in community regarding anaemia. Facilities of haemoglobin testing and nutrition counselling will be provided at the camps by National Centre of Excellence and Advanced Research on Anaemia (NCEAR-A).
Nutrition counselors from National Centre of Excellence and Advanced Research on Diets (NCEAR-D, Lady Irwin College), and Centre for acute malnutrition (Kalawati Saran Children’s Hospital) will also provide nutrition counselling to the participants. People identified to be mild/moderate anaemic will be provided oral IFA supplementation and counselling and those found to be severely anaemic will be referred for management at higher centres, according to a PIB release.
Preeti Sudan, Secretary (Health), inaugurated the Aanemia Test & Treat camps at Nirman Bhawan on September 17, 2018. The camps are being organized as part of ‘Poshan Maah’ being observed during the month of September.
The month of September 2018 has been declared as ‘Poshan Maah’ with the objective to reach every household with the message of nutrition. This is a multi-sectoral convergence activity by various Ministries and departments and various activities are to be carried out from national to village level.
A total of 10 priority themes have been identified to improve health and nutrition in the community. They are : (a) ante-natal care (b) optimal breastfeeding (c) complementary feeding (d) full immunisation and vitamin A supplementation (e) anaemia prevention control (f) growth monitoring (g) food fortification (h) diarrhoea management (i) girl education and age of marriage (j) hygiene, sanitation and safe drinking water.
As per the action plan proposed by MoHFW, it has been decided that AIIMS, New Delhi, along with six regional AIIMS (Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand) will be carrying out test and treat anaemia patients with support of State Government and UNICEF, focused on Women in Reproductive Age (15-49 years) and under-five children.