Relevance: mains: G.S Paper II: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.
The Ministry is implementing several schemes and programs like Anganwadi Services, Scheme for Adolescent Girls and Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojna under the Umbrella Integrated Child Development Services Scheme as direct targeted interventions to address the problem of malnutrition in the country. POSHAN Abhiyaan has been set up to act as an apex body for monitoring and guiding the nutrition related issues of various government schemes.
Anganwadi Services scheme provides six child development related services i.e. Supplementary Nutrition, Pre-school Education, Health & Nutrition Education, Immunization, Health check-up and Referral Services. The services are provided at the Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) through Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) and Anganwadi Helpers (AWHs) to more than 8.75 crore beneficiaries. State-wise number of beneficiaries (including Kerala) under the Anganwadi Services Scheme is placed at Annexure-I.
Under Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY), maternity benefit of ₹ 5,000/- is provided in three installments to eligible PW&LM during the period of pregnancy and lactation. The eligible beneficiary also receive the cash incentive as per approved norms towards maternity benefit under Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) after institutional delivery so that on an average, a woman gets ₹ 6,000/-. State-wise number of beneficiaries (including Kerala) is placed at Annexure-II.
Scheme for Adolescent Girls is implemented to improve the nutritional and health status of out of school adolescent girls of age 11-14 years and to upgrade their skills. The scheme is implemented in all the districts of the country w.e.f 01.04.2018. Nutrition support @ Rs. 9.5 per beneficiary per day for 300 days in a year is provided under the scheme. In addition, to providing nutritional support to the adolescent girls, the scheme aims to motivate out of school girls to go back to formal schooling /skill training under its Non –Nutrition component. Information on health, hygiene and guidance on existing public services is provided under the scheme. State-wise number of beneficiaries (including Kerala) covered under the SAG is placed at Annexure-III.
Government has set up POSHAN Abhiyaan on 18.12.2017 for a three year time frame commencing from 2017-18. The goals of POSHAN Abhiyaan are to reduce stunting in children (0-6 years), under-nutrition (underweight prevalence) in children (0-6 years) and Low Birth Weight @2% per annum and reduce anaemia among young children (6-59 months), women and adolescent girls @3% per annum across the country. POSHAN Abhiyaan is not a beneficiary centric scheme.
The revision/revamping of the ICDS Scheme is a continuous process. In the beginning of 12th Five Year Plan, the Scheme was restructured with introduction of several components for strengthening and widening the scope of delivery of services. Further in 2017, a number of initiatives have been introduced i.e. construction of Anganwadi Centre Buildings in convergence with MGNREGS, provision of toilet and drinking water facilities in Anganwadi Centres.
Since the Scheme is implemented by States/UTs, these complaints are referred to State Governments. Any case involving serious allegation, the report is sought from the State Governments.
Complaints as and when received are forwarded to States/UTs for taking suitable action as the States/UTs implement the Anganwadi Services. However, no such survey has been conducted.
In order to reduce the infant mortality rate, besides Anganwadi Services and several programmes implemented by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, POSHAN Abhiyaan ensures convergence with various other programmes; IT enabled Common Application Software for strengthening service delivery and interventions; Community Mobilization and Awareness Advocacy leading to Jan Andolan – to educate the people on nutritional aspects and Capacity Building of frontline functionaries.
To reduce Infant Mortality Rate and improve child health practices, various programmes and schemes under National Health Mission are being implemented by States/ UTs. These are:
Promotion of Institutional deliveries through cash incentive under Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) and Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakaram (JSSK) which entitles all pregnant women delivering in public health institutions to absolutely free ante-natal check-ups, delivery including Caesarean section, post-natal care and treatment of sick infants till one year of age.
Strengthening of delivery points for providing comprehensive and quality Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCH+A) Services, ensuring essential newborn care at all delivery points, establishment of Special Newborn Care Units (SNCU), Newborn Stabilization Units (NBSU) and Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) units for care of sick and small babies. Comprehensive Lactation Management Centres (CLMCs) at facilities with SNCU and Lactation Management Units (LMUs) at Sub-district level are made functional to ensure availability of Human Milk for feeding small new-borns. Home Based Newborn Care (HBNC) and Home Based Care of Young Children (HBYC) are being provided by ASHAs to improve child rearing practices.
Early initiation and exclusive breastfeeding for first six months and appropriate Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) practices are promoted by Ministry of Health & Family Welfare in convergence with this Ministry. Village Health and Nutrition Days (VHNDs) are observed for provision of maternal and child health services and creating awareness on maternal and child care including health and nutrition education. Mothers’ Absolute Affection (MAA) programme for improving breastfeeding practices (Initial Breastfeeding within one hour, Exclusive Breastfeeding up to six months and complementary feeding up to two years) through mass media campaigns and capacity building of health care providers in health facilities as well as in communities.
Universal Immunization Programme (UIP) is being supported to provide vaccination to children against life threatening diseases such as Tuberculosis, Diphtheria, Pertussis, Polio, Tetanus, Hepatitis B and Measles, Rubella, Pneumonia and Meningitis caused by Haemophilus Influenzae B. “Mission Indradhanush and Intensified Mission Indradhanush” was launched to immunize children who are either unvaccinated or partially vaccinated i.e. those that have not been covered during the rounds of routine immunization for various reasons.
Name based tracking of mothers and children till two years of age (Mother and Child Tracking System) is done to ensure complete antenatal, intranatal, postnatal care and complete immunization as per schedule
Nutrition Rehabilitation Centres (NRCs) have been set up at public health facilities to treat and manage the children with Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) admitted with medical complications.
Iron and folic acid (IFA) supplementation for the prevention of anaemia among the vulnerable age groups, home visits by ASHAs to promote exclusive breast feeding and promote use of ORS and Zinc for management of diarrhoea in children.
Health and nutrition education through Information, Education & Communication (IEC) and Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) to promote healthy practices and create awareness to generate demand and improve service uptake.
Capacity building of health care providers: Various trainings are being conducted to build and upgrade the skills of health care providers in basic and comprehensive obstetric care of mother during pregnancy, delivery and essential new-born care.