Screen children to prevent malnutrition and anemia, Sudhakar

Bengaluru, Dec. 7: It is important to screen children for malnutrition and anemia at a very young age to ensure early corrective measures.

For this, Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar instructed officials to conduct health check-ups in collaboration with government health centers in places where children are present, such as schools.

Speaking at a workshop on Strategy for Eliminating Malnutrition and Anemia in Karnataka in Bengaluru, Minister Sudhakar said that Asha workers and Anganwadi workers should work in tandem to conduct health checkups of children in collaboration with the Health Department and Rural Development Department.

“Inspection by our department will determine whether the targets have been met. But if we really take a closer look into this, we are not doing a thorough job and we need to introspect if the checkups were done properly. PHC Doctors should go to schools within their limits or the children themselves should come to the PHC and get checked. The education department should take a serious note of this,” Minister Sudhakar said.

Maternal death even in this day and age is a disgrace. We should ensure that every woman in the state should come forward for a health check-up at least once a year. Going to the temple and offering prayers has grown into a tradition. Similarly, regular health check-ups for women and mothers in the state should be developed as a tradition. For this, more awareness should be created about health programs, Minister Sudhakar said.

Malnutrition appears within first two years after birth. If the problem is not detected and resolved at this time, it will adversely affect not only physical development but also brain development as well.

Therefore, measures should be taken to prevent malnutrition and anemia in the first 1,000 days after birth. He said that especially if girls are malnourished when they grow up and give birth to a child, the child will be underweight and prone to diseases, anemia and malnourishment again. Minister Sudhakar highlighted the importance of breaking this intergeneration cycle.

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