Vimla Pradhan felicitates an expecting mother during the programme in Ranchi on Saturday. (Prashant Mitra)

Ranchi, Sept. 1: The state government will treat expecting mothers and host rice ceremonies for six-month-old children at its 38,000 anganwadi centres around the state.

State social welfare, woman and child development minister Vimla Pradhan declared this during the inauguration of Nutrition Week (September 1-7) at Sri Krishna Institute of Public Administration in Ranchi today.

Handing out nutritious food and a basket of fruits and vegetables to two expecting women today, Pradhan said: “Women who are 28 to 32 weeks pregnant will be felicitated at a special godh bharai ceremony. We will treat them to nutritious food and counsel them on birth preparedness and the need for rest and care. Similarly, children who have completed 6 months will be offered dal, roti, kheer, halwa and daliya as part of the rice ceremony,” said Pradhan.

Over 400 anganwadi sevikas participated in the event.

“Spreading awareness about proper nutrition among women has always been a challenge, particularly areas where women are less educated and not open to change. This programme will help a lot,” said anganwadi sevika Jaba Mistry from Bermo.

Speaking on the occasion, social welfare department principal secretary Mridula Sinha highlighted the problem of malnutrition. “Anganwadi workers identified about 50,000 undernourished children. After that, 60 malnutrition treatment centres were set up,” said Sinha. She stressed on the need for regularising “take home ration” and strengthening the role of panchayat members and civil society workers to address the problem of malnutrition.

State Unicef chief Job Zachariah said the state could achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of reducing infant mortality rate (IMR) to less than 28 per 1,000 live births by 2015.

“According to All India Health Survey 2010-11, the IMR in the state stands at 40. For achieving the MDG goal, Jharkhand will need to improve the nutritional status of children, adolescent girls and women,” he said.

Pointing out ways to fight malnutrition, Zachariah said breastfeeding within one hour of birth, exclusive breastfeeding for six months and complimentary feeding from the seventh month along with breastfeeding will help in achieving the goal.

Other steps are washing hands with soap at critical times, immunisation of children, treatment of diarrhoea with ORS and Zinc, nutritious food intake during pregnancy, intake of iron and de-worming tablets by adolescent girls and treatment of malnourished children with therapeutic food.