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Punjab launch 45-day campaign to make state anaemia free

Chandigarh: The Punjab health department on Wednesday launched a campaign 45-day campaign to raise awareness against anaemia.

The initiative was launched at Mohali and would be taken to the remaining districts in the state. The campaign focuses on pregnant women, lactating mothers and adolescent girls. They will be provided free haemoglobin testing and quality treatment services at government health institutes across the state.


The campaign was kicked off by organizing special haemoglobin testing camps at government hospitals across the state, and a large number of women and adolescent girls visited for testing.

Punjab health and family welfare department director Dr Avneet Kaur shared the causes of anaemia. Iron deficiency accounts for about 50% of anaemia cases in schoolchildren and among women of reproductive age-group, and 80% in children of 2–5 years of age.

Other nutritional deficiencies besides iron, such as vitamin B12, foliate and vitamin A, also cause anaemia. She said infectious diseases, particularly malaria, helminthes infections, tuberculosis and haemoglobinopathies, were other important contributory causes to the high prevalence of anaemia.

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