BHOPAL: In association with Mahila & Bal Vikash Department, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh; Mahan Aluminium, Aditya Birla Group organized a ‘Matrutva Chetna Sivir’ (Motherhood Awareness Camp) for pregnant and lactating mothers at Daga village near Bargawan under Singrauli District where production facilities are located.
The major focus of this program was also to promote breast feeding for infants and propagating the benefits of mother’s milk for the babies. Dr. Ramesh Nirula, Chief Medical Consultant, Mahan Hospital, said that breast milk contains antibodies that helps babies to fight off viruses and bacteria. Breastfeeding lowers baby’s risk of having asthma or allergies.
Plus, babies who are breastfed exclusively for the first 6 months, without any formula, have fewer ear infections, respiratory illnesses, and bouts of diarrhea. In the event ANM’s* also presented a Nukkad Natak (Drama Performance at Public Place) through which they propagated various measures to be taken during pregnancy and after delivery also.
They highlighted the importance of institutional delivery and schemes available with the Govt. for the same.
Yashwant Kumar, Head CSR, Mahan Aluminium said that sex detection and Female Feticide are heinous crimes and should not be taken up in any case. He said girls and boys are both important for the society. He highlighted the various schemes of the Govt. for girl child education and other schemes like Ladli Laxmi Yojna etc.
At the end of programme an oath was taken in the presence of PRI members (Panchayati Raj Institutions) and local opinion leaders for adopting best practices during and post pregnancy and to provide equal opportunities to girl children too.
The objectives of the awareness programme
Improving social and economic health and nutritional status of the women; Improving children’s physical, mental, intellectual development along with improving their health and nutritional status and protecting them from malnutrition; Protecting women’s constitutional interests, increasing awareness regarding social evils, laws and policies related to women’s welfare and security. Playing the role of a coordinator while implementing schemes of various departments in the state for overall development of children and women, to ensure that benefits of the schemes reach the beneficiaries.
*Auxiliary nurse midwife, commonly known as ANM, is a village-level female health worker in India who is known as the first contact person between the community and the health services.
