Public attention in the coming weeks is on emergency care. Disease surveillance with particular emphasis on diarrheal diseases and acute respiratory infections is an immediate priority. GOI and WHO have sent specialists to set up a surveillance system. There is also a great need to restore primary health care services, including immunization, growth monitoring and antenatal care for women. When taking into account, the districts that range from moderately to very highly damaged, the target population is 1.5 million children under 5 years and 2.5 million women in the reproductive age group.
Food is an urgent priority.
A further concern is feeding. There is a need to provide emergency supplementary feeding with locally available food, to meet the nutritional needs of the children belonging to the most vulnerable segments of the population. Anaemia and vitamin A deficiency in the children and women are the major micronutrient deficiencies found in the State. The anaemia status of women and children is further acerbated by the aftermath of the earthquake since family access to sufficient food and nourishment is not yet guaranteed. To increase emergency health and medical care to the affected families with a special focus on children and women.