Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj Shri Vivek Bharadwaj co-chaired an insightful session dedicated to Healthy Village initiatives in Andhra Pradesh with Chief Secretary of Andhra Pradesh Dr. K. S. Jawahar Reddy on Day 2 of Three-day National Workshop on Healthy Village towards Healthier Tomorrow at Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh.
Delivering Day 2 keynote address at the National Workshop, Dr. K. S. Jawahar Reddy highlighted the critical aspects of health, hygiene, drinking water, sanitation, cleanliness and associated focus areas towards creating Healthy Villages in a sustainable manner. He presented an overview of Performance of SDGs in Andhra Pradesh with a focus on Healthy Village theme under LSDGs.
Appreciating the sincere efforts of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj towards advancing collaborative and concerted action on Localization of Sustainable Development Goals (LSDGs) in Gram Panchayats through Adopting Thematic Approaches on Theme 2: Healthy Village, Dr. K. S. Jawahar Reddy reminisced a distinctive coincidence of having served in both the Departments of Rural Development & Panchayat Raj and Health & Family Welfare in the Government of Andhra Pradesh.
Highlighting remarkable progress made in respect of health and wellbeing in rural areas across the country, keynote address of Dr. K. S. Jawahar Reddy shed light on the nation's proactive approach to addressing key health determinants, drinking water and sanitation. He underlined notable success in implementation of Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) for Swachhata and Jal Jeevan Mission's functional tap connections for households marks a positive step towards a cleaner and healthier India. Dr. Reddy added that waste can be generated into wealth and a need to find solution for legacy waste management – disposal of legacy waste.
Additional Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj Dr. Chandra Shekhar Kumar, Special Chief Secretary, Department of Panchayat Raj & Rural Development, Government of Andhra Pradesh Shri Budithi Rajsekhar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj Shri Vikas Anand, Commissioner, Health & Family Welfare, Government of Andhra Pradesh Shri J. Nivas, Commissioner, Department of Rural Development & Panchayat Raj, Government of Andhra Pradesh Smt. A. Surya Kumari and other distinguished dignitaries, experts and large number of Panchayat Representatives and representatives of government and non-government agencies are participating in the National Workshop on its second day.
On the second day, the Technical Sessions saw Best Practices and Experience Sharing by well performing Gram Panchayats from different parts of the country in the thematic field of Healthy Village. The exemplary strategies, approaches, convergent actions and innovative models in context to convergent actions and best practices towards Healthy Village theme of LSDGs were showcased and discussed during interactive sessions.
The key issues such as role of Gram Panchayat in Preventive measures of Communicable and Non-Communicable disease, Availability and Accessibility of Quality Health Care Services, Addressing issues of the malnutrition for women, Children and adolescent, Palliative care for Elderly and people with special needs, Role of Gram Panchayats in combating Lifestyle disease (Hypertension / Diabetes /Asthma etc.), Prevention and Treatment of substance abuse including Narcotic drugs abuse, Harmful use of Alcohol and Tobacco, Sexual and Reproductive Health care services and Family Planning were discussed in detail during the Group Discussions.
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