Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government will launch a drive for deworming of children on Friday.
Stating this at a press conference in Bhubaneswar on Thursday, Bijay Kumar Panigrahi, Director, Family Welfare, said the Department of Health and Family Welfare will carry out the campaign across the state. For the children who will miss their dose on Friday, another round of deworming will be held on August 19, he added.
The Directorate of Family Welfare will conduct National Deworming Day (NDD) along with Vitamin A supplementation programme for all children in August.
“Currently, there are 1,68,31,679 beneficiaries of the NDD programme in the state. The prime objective of the initiative is to deworm every children between 1 to 19 years. They will be administered deworming tablets through schools and Anganwadi centres. Through this initiative, we can prevent diseases like anemia and malnutrition,” said Panigrahi.
The director also appealed to parents, caregivers and service providers to take part in the campaign for health security of children.