The Scheduled Tribes Development Department is set to launch a comprehensive health programme to combat malnutrition and deaths among tribespeople in the State.
‘Oorum, uyirum’ will be piloted in 212 tribal settlements with around 13,000 people in Wayanad as an answer to anaemia, stunting, underweight, and infant mortality that stalk the communities.
To be coordinated by the Wayanad district administration, Women and Child Development department and National Health Mission under the umbrella of United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the programme focusses on the health and nutrition of the tribespeople through a life cycle approach. It will be first rolled out in Noolpuzha panchayat near Sulthan Bathery.
Videos to be screened
The programme will adopt a focussed approach, with general health and nutritional assessments done for each settlement. Separate screening camps will be held for pregnant women, children below the age of five, lactating women, adolescents and so on. Along with the assessments, a series of videos on health and nutrition will be screened for each target group in the language of the tribal community concerned. In the videos, the tribal chieftain or the ‘oorumoopan’ or a role model from each target group will address the community. The idea is to reach out to as many tribespeople as possible.
Ways to address the lack of nutritious food will be found by health workers, scheduled tribe promoters, community social workers, and others who visit the settlement. Once a settlement is covered, the camps and video screenings will be held in the next settlement.
The district administration’s ‘Poshaka Sena’ (nutrition army) will be revamped and their services too will be utilised for the ‘Oorum uyirum’ project.
After the pilot project in Noolpuzha, the whole of Wayanad district will be covered under the project. Then, it will be extended to the tribal belt in other districts such as Attappady in Palakkad and Nilambur in Malappuram.
The promo video of ‘Oorum uyirum’ was launched on the Wayanad District Collector’s Facebook page recently’.
