The AP Government is planning a healthcare drive to combat malnutrition among poor children and pregnant women in the state by supplying candies. Children and pregnant women in poverty-affected villages will be the beneficiaries of the latest project of the state government. After a survey, micro-nutrient enriched candies will be distributed to children in the age-group of 2 to 6 years and pregnant women through Anganwadi centres.

According to Women & Child Welfare Minister S Saraswati the candies would be enriched with iron, Vitamin A and C and folic acid. The Canadian Government will help out with Rs 3 crore for the project. The Minister was talking at a workshop held in connection with the National Nutrition Week.

Assistance for children in districts such as Mehboobnagar and Adilabad, where a significant percentage of the population have been affected by poverty-induced malnutrition, was also on the cards, said G V Hanumantha Devi, Director, Women & Child Welfare Department. Reducing vitamin A and iodine among the people by the year 2007 was also part of the department's plans, she said.

Only by building a buffer stock of food and improving the public distribution system can the problem of malnutrition in rural areas be solved. The department was trying to create awareness among pregnant women about how bad food habits would affect the child, she said.

According to a survey done in the state recently, about 90 % of the pregnant women in the rural areas were anaemic resulting in high percentage of infant and mother mortality rates in the state.