About 87,000 children have been pulled out of malnourishment through the 'Nava Jatan Yojana' implemented by the State Women and Child Development Department.
The scheme is playing a crucial role in eliminating malnourishment in recent years. The Budget allocated to the scheme is Rs 17 crore for the year 2016-17, officials stated.
The Union Government had appreciated the implementation of the Yojana many times and it has been included in the Best Practices, they stated.
Women and Child Development Minister Ramsheela Sahu said that 87,000 infants had been pulled out of malnourishment and made healthy. Navajatan is a community -based service in which Women's Self-Help Groups, Mahila mandals and corporate houses take active part.
The scheme makes efforts to make an infant healthy in six- month's time. Concerned citizens co-operate with self-help groups to locate malnourished children and provide nourishment to make them healthy.
In case of severely malnourished children they are admitted to Nourishment Rehabilitation Centres or Health Centres to provide free medical aid and nourished back to health.
Sahu added that monitoring is done on a regular basis to nurture infants back to health. In the first phase 7036 infants had been nurtured back to health. In the fourth phase which is operating about 37,000 children had been nurtured back to health.
Women and Child Development Minister Ramsheela Sahu stated in February this year that if families take care of minor health issues of children then malnourishment can be eliminated soon.
The Infant Mortality Rate can be brought down if nutritious diet is provided. The message should be conveyed across the State, she said while addressing the World Bank sponsored training programme titled '' Sattu Seekh Prakriya'' in Raipur.
A blueprint should be prepared to eliminate malnourishment before schedule. The World Bank is aiding the project in 17 districts to check deficiencies .The training session is focusing on twelve points like looking after pregnant women, infants, breastfeeding and identifying malnourished infants.
The State Women and Child Development Department had been distributing nutritious diet to nine lakh girls in the age-group of 11-18 years at the Anganwadi centres.
The 10 districts where 'Sabla Yojana' is operating are : Raipur, Gariabandh, Balodabazar, Rajnandgaon, Raigarh, Surguja, Balrampur, Surajpur, Jagdalpur and Kondagaon . About four lakh minor girls are availing the nutritious diet facility , officials stated.
In the remaining 17 districts a similar scheme is operating which is providing the diet to girls. Fifty per cent of the expenditure is borne by the Central Government and the other half is by the State Government.
The officials of the Women and Child Development Department said that the Anganwadi centres provide nutritious diet to anemic women and other allied services. 'Sabhla Yojana' provides facilities to school drop-outs in the age-group of 11-14 years. The minor girls in the age-group of 14-18 years are taught child rearing, home management, life skills training and other issues.