AIIMS Bhubaneswar to train government officials working on health, nutrition in tribal areas

BHUBANESWAR: The All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneswar will impart training to supervisors of women and child development (WCD) department and child development project officers (CDPOs) from 12 tribal dominated districts of the state on improving health and nutrition of particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs).


Department of community medicine and family medicine (CM&FM) of the institute will organise the training programme between January 16 and 18. AIIMS Bhubaneswar dean and head of CMFM department Vikas Bhatia said this here on Sunday on the sidelines of a national conference on ‘Comprehensive primary health care: pivotal role of community medicine physicians’.

Malnutrition among tribal children is a major problem in the state. These officials will train the field level health workers about health and nutrition in their respective districts. “We have prepared training modules for these 56 officials. We will discuss about improvement of health and nutrition of women, children and adolescents in the training programme,” said Bhatia.

He said everybody should know about public health nutrition and how to stop malnutrition in the state or country. “Nutritional balance in diet is needed to make a healthy society. It will prevent several diseases. We are trying to sensitize people about this and promote this in different way through workshops and trainings,” said Bhatia.

The experts while attending the two-day 38th Indian Association of Preventive and Social Medicine (IAPSM) conference of Odisha state branch discussed about Anemia. It was also discussed in the media workshop held on Sunday.

Anemia is a condition in which the blood does not have enough haemoglobin. People with this disease report feelings of weakness or fatigue. They also feel breathlessness after walking or running for a few minutes. In a long run, it may turn fatal for a person. Proper diet and nutrition can cure the anemic condition of the people, said the experts.

According to the National Family Health Survey-4, around 45 per cent of under five children, 51 per cent adolescent girls, 48 per cent pregnant women, 55 per cent of lactating mothers and 49 per cent of women in reproductive age group are anemic in Odisha.