In the aftermath of the Covid pandemic, the Integrated Women and Child Welfare and Development Society (IWCDS) has introduced alternative methods to provide services to infants, pregnant women, and lactating mothers in the district. Due to an increase in Covid positive cases across the district, IWCDS officials, employees, and women are not visiting village-level Anganwadi centres, and child attendance has dropped dramatically, despite the government allowing the centres to operate from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
According to IWCDS officials, the district has 4,192 Anganwadi centres, with 1,34,343 children enrolled in these centres under the age of six. There are 16,544 pregnant women and 20,081 lactating mothers in total. However, officials and staff from the IWCDS wing devised an innovative alternative strategy to ensure that infants, pregnant women, and lactating mothers receive uninterrupted care. They developed separate WhatsApp groups for infants, pregnant women, and lactating mothers at the Anganwadi centre stage.
Children's parents' phone numbers were added to the WhatsApp community for their benefit. Songs, videos, photographs, and other materials are sent to parents of children through these WhatsApp groups, and the parents, in turn, educate their children.
For pregnant women, a timetable of medications and food products was prepared and sent to their WhatsApp party, and by following it, they are maintaining their daily health and food discipline. The same procedure was used for lactating mothers.
To prevent crowding at Anganwadi centres, regular nutritious food products are also delivered to the doorsteps of infants, pregnant women, and lactating mothers.
"With an aim to provide uninterrupted services, we have adopted alternative methods during the Covid pandemic," stated IWCDS Project Director G Jaya Devi to The Hans India.
