Mumbai: To increase awareness about use of Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS) and Zinc tablets for treating diarrhoea illness, the health department of the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) has launched an Intensified Diarrhoea Control Fortnight (IDCF) during the monsoon season. The intensified drive which started off on 6, June will run till 21, June.
MBMC chief-Sanjay Katkar had recently held a high-level meeting comprising senior officials from the health department to chalk out a roadmap for the proper management and implementation of operational guidelines issued by the ministry.
Around 183 Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) and medical volunteers under the supervision of medical officer- Dr. Pramod Padwal are visiting door-to-door in areas especially-urban slum clusters, hilly regions, tribal settlements, construction sites, far-off villages, brick kilns, flood prone places, temporary shelters, homeless children and other catchment zones which have earlier witnessed outbreaks of diarrhoea and other water-borne diseases in the twin city.
Apart from conducting community level awareness generation activities like mini rallies and street plays, the ASHA workers will also distribute a blister strip containing 14 dispersible zinc tablets along with 2 ORS packets to caregivers of children aged under five years.
The ASHA workers are also educating the caregivers about the appropriate use of Zinc while highlighting the need of keeping hygienic surroundings and encouraging hand washing with soap and safe sanitation to prevent them from any kind of illnesses.
This is the tenth edition of the annually observed drive which was launched by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare under the National Health Mission (NHM) supported by the World Health Organization (WHO) across the country since 2014 with a focus on reducing infant and child mortality, with diarrhoea being a leading cause of death among children under five years of age.
