IDCF campaign

IMPHAL, Jul 4 : Dr  Somorjit Ningombam, State Mission Director, SHS, National Health Mission, Manipur has launched the 15-day  'Intensified Diarrhoea Control Fortnight' (IDCF) campaign at his office chamber located in Lamphelpat.
The campaign will conclude on July 20.
Speaking to media persons, Dr Somorjit shared that Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare had launched the IDCF campaign all across India from June 13 upto June 27.
For Manipur, the campaign has been launched a little late but will continue till July 20, he added.
The prime goal of National Health Policy 2019 is to reduce childhood mortality (under five years of age) to 23 per thousand live births by 2025, he shared.
Dr Somorjit also maintained that diarrhoea can be easily managed by intake of ORS and zinc, however, only around 60% of parents have this knowledge according to the National Family Health Survey, he stated.
Aside from this, only 20% of parents know that zinc tablets are necessary for treating diarrhoea in infants.
Dr Somorjit asserted that the IDCF campaign has been launched with the set goal of ensuring that the diarrhoea-related mortality rate of children under 5 drops to zero.
In order to reach this goal, he highlighted the role of parents in ensuring that they wash their hands properly, know how to prepare and when to administer ORS to their sick child.
Asha, Anganwadi workers and other field workers will be distributing ORS packets to families with children under 5 years of age in order to bring them awareness and control this disease to an extent, he said.
The State Mission Director also shared that as per NFHS-5 report, there are around 3.4 lakh children under 5 years of age in Manipur and among them 5.6% will likely suffer from bouts of diarrhoea. This means that around 19,500 to 20,000 children may suffer from the disease, he said.