25000 adolescent girls in Srikakulam suffering from haemoglobin deficiency

  • | Wednesday | 19th September, 2018

During this period, they suffer from many complicated health issues if there is a deficiency of haemoglobin. The students are also unable to concentrate on studies and work at their home due to haemoglobin deficiency.“To check this in my district, I initiated the Nandi programme to improve the haemoglobin levels in girl students. The aim is to see that no adolescent girl student suffers from haemoglobin deficiency,” Reddy said.Each girl student is being freely provided a sesame and ground-nut jaggery sweet for 25 days per month.“Nearly Rs 3 crore is being spent per annum on this programme. Self-help group women members were assigned the task of preparation of the sweet and distribution to the schools and Anganwadi centres,” Reddy added. While 22,887 students had haemoglobin levels between 7g/dL and 9g/dL, 1,358 students had only 7g/dL of haemoglobin in their blood.In September, the department began providing sesame and groundnut jaggery sweets.Speaking to TOI, Srikakulam district collector K Dhanunjaya Reddy said more than 90% of the girl students between 10 and 18 years reached puberty.

Visakhapatnam: Nearly a quarter of around 1 lakh adolescent girl students in Srikakulam district suffer from haemoglobin deficiency.More than 25,000 students were found to be suffering from haemoglobin deficiency, with levels of less than 11g/dL.In a bid to improve the situation, Srikakulam district collector K Dhanunjaya Reddy introduced a scheme called Nandi, which is said to be the first-of-its-kind programme in Andhra Pradesh.The state government is now planning to replicate the programme in the other 12 districts soon.The district administration will provide sesame and groundnut sweets made of jaggery every day to the girl students. Each sweet weighs 30 grams. Intake of sesame and groundnut sweets was suggested by doctors to improve the haemoglobin levels of the girl students.For this, the departments of education and health were assigned the task of running the programme.Accordingly, the health department conducted blood tests on 1,03,728 girl students of 470 government high schools, 100-odd private schools and 44 junior colleges.The blood tests were done from June to August.Doctors found that nearly 25% of these students suffered from haemoglobin deficiency. While 22,887 students had haemoglobin levels between 7g/dL and 9g/dL, 1,358 students had only 7g/dL of haemoglobin in their blood.In September, the department began providing sesame and groundnut jaggery sweets.Speaking to TOI, Srikakulam district collector K Dhanunjaya Reddy said more than 90% of the girl students between 10 and 18 years reached puberty. During this period, they suffer from many complicated health issues if there is a deficiency of haemoglobin. The students are also unable to concentrate on studies and work at their home due to haemoglobin deficiency.“To check this in my district, I initiated the Nandi programme to improve the haemoglobin levels in girl students. It’s a continuous programme. The aim is to see that no adolescent girl student suffers from haemoglobin deficiency,” Reddy said.Each girl student is being freely provided a sesame and ground-nut jaggery sweet for 25 days per month.“Nearly Rs 3 crore is being spent per annum on this programme. We use the district-level funds for this programme. Self-help group women members were assigned the task of preparation of the sweet and distribution to the schools and Anganwadi centres,” Reddy added.

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