Women & Child Development, Health Department, and NRLM asked to ensure no pregnant woman or malnourished child is left out of government services.
Published on: September 22, 2025
By: BTNI
Location: Rajnandgaon, India
In a significant step towards improving maternal and child health, Chief Executive Officer of the District Panchayat, Ms. Suruchi Singh, chaired a joint meeting of the Women and Child Development Department, the Health Department, and the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) at the District Panchayat conference hall on Monday.
During the review, Ms. Singh emphasized that no pregnant woman or malnourished child in the district should remain deprived of departmental services and welfare schemes. She instructed that NRLM’s Poshan Sakhi and Gender Didis conduct extensive surveys to ensure every pregnant woman is mandatorily registered at Anganwadi centers and health facilities.
Highlighting the importance of preventive care, she directed that all expectant mothers should regularly consume iron and multivitamin tablets to ensure that children are born healthy and well-nourished. She further asked Anganwadi workers and Mitanins to identify high-risk pregnancies, ensure at least four antenatal checkups, and promote institutional deliveries.
Special focus was placed on adolescent girls, with instructions to guarantee distribution of iron tablets. Parents of malnourished children, she stressed, must be sensitized about providing nutritious local food instead of processed snacks like chips and packaged items, which contribute to undernutrition.
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Ms. Singh also directed that newly married couples should be invited to community programs such as Palak Chaupal, Palak Baithak, and VHSND (Village Health, Sanitation, and Nutrition Day) to create awareness about maternal and child health.
The review also covered ongoing state-level campaigns — the Healthy Woman, Empowered Family Campaign (17 September–2 October) and Poshan Maah (Nutrition Month, 17 September–16 October). Under the guidance of the district administration, the Women & Child Development and Health Departments are jointly organizing health camps across various locations, benefitting a large number of pregnant women and malnourished children.
The meeting was attended by Mrs. Gurpreet Kaur, District Programme Officer (Women & Child Development), Dr. Netaram Navratan, Chief Medical and Health Officer, along with project officers, supervisors, block-level officers, NRLM managers, Mitanin trainers, and field workers.