The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Call for awareness drive on reasons for disability

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 14, 2009
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Call for awareness drive on reasons for disability

Staff Reporter

Kakinada: Joint Collector K. Sasidhar has called for extensive campaign on reasons for physical disability among children so that parents could take necessary precautions right from the moment of birth of their young ones.

Two to three per cent of the population of East Godavari district was disabled, he observed, and suggested that concerted efforts should be made to prevent more such instances of debility.

Addressing ICDS community development project officers (CDPOs) and supervisors in a training programme here on Saturday, Mr. Sasidhar said nearly six per cent of Indians was physically disabled due to congenital defects and this situation could have been averted had adequate precautions been taken at the time of birth.

Such people were unable to fight for their rights. Pregnant women should take nutritious diet and look after their health well so that their babies would be immune to different ailments.

NIMH project

Assistant Director of Disabled Welfare Department K. Jeevan Babu said a project of identifying the physically disabled was under implementation in rural areas with the help of the National Institute for Mentally Handicapped (NIMH). Two other districts of Andhra Pradesh were covered under the project.

The CDPOs and supervisors would educate anganwadi workers about identification of children showing signs of disability. Awareness would also be spread among pregnant women. NIMH representative Ramesh, DMHO D. Vijay Kumar, ICDS project director N. Vidyawati participated.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh