In a comprehensive evaluation of social welfare programs, conducted two months after assuming office in 2021, Stalin expressed his distress over the state of children's health and called for measures to transform Tamil Nadu into a state free from malnutrition, PTI reported.
"Statistics revealed that many children below 6 years were underweight and stunted due to malnutrition. Accordingly, I announced a special nutrition programme -- on the day the DMK government stepped into its second year in office -- determined to make Tamil Nadu children strong," the chief minister said in a post on social media on Friday, May 19.
Stalin had also launched a special medical camp in the Nilgiris district to identify malnourished children. Subsequently, on February 28 this year, he announced a nutrition programme to improve the health of about 1.11 lakh children below six years of age.
"This was one among the seven programmes I had launched. I had also launched a nutrition scheme for mothers of 11,917 children below 6 months to ensure the latter obtained mothers' milk," he said in his tweet.
The children's growth was monitored by providing nutritional food and medical assistance, he added.