Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Health department has sought support of faith leaders and social influencers to spread public awareness about child vaccination and anaemia prevention in Madhya Pradesh.
With deployment of Anganwadi workers in SIR, vaccination cycles of children have been disrupted in state. Faith leaders are influential stakeholders and have potential to enhance public confidence in vaccination campaigns.
To prevent anaemia, children aged six to 59 months are given 1 ml iron drops twice a week by ASHA workers. Children aged five to 10 years are provided pink iron tablets, while adolescents aged 11 to 19 years are given blue iron tablets through schools.
A meeting of health department officials with faith leaders and influencers was held in Bhopal. Religious leaders assured cooperation in spreading awareness about anemia prevention through religious places, social gatherings and religious programmes. They also pledged support for vaccination awareness in areas with low immunisation coverage.
Faith leaders and social influencers attending workshop were given detailed information about anaemia and were informed about free services available under Anaemia Mukt Bharat campaign.
District Immunisation Officer Dr Ritesh Rawat said public participation is crucial for vaccination of children and hence support of faith leaders has been sought. He said anaemia is a major cause of children becoming easily tired or irritable, and iron deficiency can lead to fatigue, shortness of breath, numbness in hands and feet, headaches and frequent illnesses.
CMHO Jabalpur Dr Sanjay Mishra said both vaccination and anaemia are major public health issues and support of faith leaders is important for health department efforts as they have strong influence in raising awareness among people.
