Officials of the Women Development and Child Welfare (WD&CW) department are at present on a door-to-door campaign to create awareness among the pregnant and lactating women about breastfeeding.
As part of the ongoing World Breastfeeding Week, being observed from August 1 to 7, the officials, Anganwadi teachers and supervisors are visiting villages and explaining to mothers about the importance of breastfeeding.
WD&CW Principal Secretary A.R. Anuradha visited Giripuram area in the city on Wednesday and explained to lactating mothers about the World Breastfeeding Week.
She asked the elder women in the families to explain to their daughters and daughter-in-laws on the importance of mother’s milk.
Ms. Anuradha distributed groceries, including rice, dal, oil and other material, under Take Home Ration programme to the beneficiaries. Earlier, she visited Bala Sadan and Working Women’s Hostel, being run by the WD&CW department and enquired with Project Director K. Uma Rani about the facilities for the inmates.
Speaking to The Hindu, Director, WD&CW, Krithika Shukla said that instructions had been given to the Anganwadi teachers and supervisors to visit houses and explain to lactating women on the ongoing World Breastfeeding Week.
Assistant Project Director M. Prameela Rani, Child Development Project Director (CDPO) Suvarna, Working Women’s Hostel Superintendent Poornima, Disha One Stop Centre administrator Sravanthi, Bala Sadan superintendent Sudha Rani and other participated in the campaign.
“As per the data available with the Anganwadi Centres across the State on pregnant and lactating women, the WD&CW and the Anganwadi staff will visit and explain to the mothers the importance of breastfeeding. The staff met some thousands of women in each district in the last five days,” Ms. Shukla said. The State government is also planning to organise a webinar on the World Breastfeeding Week with experts, the Director added.
