KRISHNAGIRI: District Collector Dr V Jaya Chandra Bhanu Reddy inaugurated a health camp for malnourished children below six years at Jinjampatti in Bargur block on Monday.
The Collector said, "The camp will identify stunted and underweight children in the district below six years. Their health will be monitored in ten blocks by 1,796 Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) centres. The Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) team in each block will identify the children. The camp will be conducted for a month. Parents must attend the programme with their children. Identified children will get nutritional assistance and medical intervention, their growth will be monitored for six months. The health benefits of preparing nutritional food with vegetables, millets, spinach they can get in their locality and a diet chart for children will be provided."
An ICDS official said, "In the last week of March, 1.27 lakh children got their weight and height checked at a monitoring programme in the district. Of them 48,161 were identified as malnourished - 6,665 severely stunted, 17,603 moderately stunted, 2,515 severely wasted, 8,726 moderately wasted, 1,661 severely underweight and 10, 991 moderately underweight."
ICDS project officer R Jayanthi, Deputy Director of Health Services V Govindan, Bargur MLA D Mathiazhagan and others took part.