With an aim to train Cluster Resource Persons (CRCs) and frontline workers of the Health Department and Integrated Child Scheme (ICDS) for proper identification of anaemia among adolescents and children by studying signs and symptoms, a block-level Weekly Iron and Folic Acid Supplementation (WIFS) workshop was organsied in Sinapali block here recently.
More than 35 CRCs and frontline workers were trained in the workshop. later, such workshop will be organised in other remaining blocks of the district in a phased manner, informed Sinapali Block Programme Manager (BPM) Saikh Wasim Raza.
The programme will cover 1.25 lakh students of 1,024 schools of the district. More than 250 CRCs and workers of Health and ICDS will be trained in the district for this purpose. The students will be administered iron and folic acid weekly for 52 weeks,” said Raza.
“The tablets will be provided to the students after the mid day meal. When the malnutrition and anaemia in the district is very high, the workshop being undertaken by the Health Department under the Rastriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram will help a lot in checking the spread of anemia and malnutrition,” said District Press Club secretary Tapan Ranjan Dash.
Notably, the Government has decided to implement the WIFS programme for adolescents and children between the age group of 0 and 14 years. The programme is based on the empirical evidence that weekly supplementation of 100 mg Iron and 500 mg Folic acid is effective in decreasing prevalence of anemia in adolescent age group.