COVID-19: Govt holding online awareness sessions with Anganwadi workers

The Women and Child Development Ministry is regularly holding online interactive sessions with Anganwadi workers to ensure the safety of pregnant women and lactating mothers after the 21-day lockdown ends, sources said.

The ministry has reached out to more than two lakh Anganwadi workers through these interactive sessions, the sources said.

“The Women and Child Development Ministry has initiated a series of interactive awareness sessions with them using digital platforms to ensure frontline Anganwadi workers have first-hand information regarding measures to safeguard themselves from COVID-19 (even after the lockdown ends),” a source said.

The government is also in touch with health experts on the matter, the sources said.

“Special focus is also being given to ensure nutritional requirements of pregnant women and lactating mothers are met even after April 15,” another source said.

On Sunday, digital interactive sessions on COVID-19 involving introduction and preventive management and psychosocial impact of coronavirus on women and children were conducted by the WCD Ministry, the sources said.

“Several measures and suggestions were discussed for maintaining physical and mental well-being of women and children amid the pandemic,” an official said.

Related news: Extending lockdown not a good idea, may invite compliance issues

In a bid to help domestic violence victims, the National Commission for Women has decided to form a task force of over 15 NGOs to help the women in need, sources in the NCW said.

The move comes a few days after the NCW said that it has received 69 complaints of domestic violence since the country-wide lockdown was imposed.

Since March 24, a total of 257 complaints related to various offenses against women were received, out of which 69 were of domestic violence, NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma had said.

India is under a three-week lockdown since March 24 with its 1.3 billion people instructed to stay at home in view of the coronavirus outbreak, which has claimed 77 lives and infected over 3,000 people in the country.