For prevention of anaemia among children of 10 to 19 years the State Woman and Child Development Department will start Weekly Iron Folic Acid Supplement (WIFS) programme in Chhattisgarh from July 1.
Under the programme, IFA (100 mg element iron and 500 mg folic acid) will be supplied to the school-going teenagers at schools on every Tuesday and non-school-going girls at Anganbadi centres on
every Saturday. Besides, to destroy parasitic intestinal worms, 400 mg Albandejal medicine will be given to the boys and girls twice in a year on the first Saturday of August and February months.
Chief Minister Raman Singh and Woman and Child Development Minister lata Usendi have appealed to the parents of all teenagers to encourage their children to take IFA on a regular basis and extend their contribution for building a strong and healthy society.
Raman said that by taking IFA on a regular basis a generation of healthy teenagers would be prepared, which, on the one hand would be helpful in increasing production in the State and on the other teenager girls would be developed as healthy mothers in future. This programme would be proved as a milestone in the direction of development of a healthy Chhattisgarh, he added. Woman and Child Development Minister lata Usendi said that with supply of IFA on a regular basis to the teenagers effective results could be received. This programme would be a new step in the efforts of the State Government against anaemia and malnutrition, she added. The Minister said that definitely it would be a progressive step towards freeing Chhattisgarh from anaemia and malnutrition.