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Published 15:15 IST, September 10th 2020

Chhattisgarh reopens Anganwadi centres for children & pregnant women to curb malnutrition

Anganwadi centres that were closed due to lockdown have been reopened by the Chhattisgarh government to curb malnutrition among kids and pregnant women.

Reported by: Digital Desk
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As the Anganwadi centres were also shut due to the COVID-19 induced lockdown in the country, the Chhattisgarh Government has reopened them amid the pandemic to curb malnutrition among kids and pregnant women.

There are 51,455 Anganwadi centres in the state. However, the government has planned to reopen all the centres except those which fall in containment zones. The government plans to run the centres with strict compliance of hygiene and safety measures to combat the spread of COVID-19. Precautions such as thermal screening, sanitisation by washing hands with soap and other hygiene protocols will be followed by the workers as well as the beneficiary children and pregnant women before entering the premises, said officials according to reports. 

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The Anganwadi workers were directly delivering dry ration to homes of the beneficiaries amid the lockdown. The government officials said international agencies such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to state that COVID-19 might result in the rise of malnourishment cases and suggested to take effective steps to counter the situation. Taking note of WHO and UNICEF's call, the government thought about reopening the Anganwadi centres which will not only provide food freshly-cooked food to children between 3-6 years of age and pregnant women but also provide immunisation to children and health check-up of pregnant women.

The centre will have 15 people among the staff at any given time and if any of the staff members is found COVID-19 positive, then the centre will be closed for three days.

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The malnutrition level in the state had been over 37% according to the National Health and Family Welfare Phase 4 survey and NITI Aayog's report. However, there was a significant decline of over 13% in the state during the span of six months from October 2019 to March 2020 after the launch of Mukhyamantri Suposhan Yojana.

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15:15 IST, September 10th 2020