MINISTER OF STATE OF THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI KRISHNA TIRATH)
(a) to (d): A mix of prevention, treatment, food diversification, awareness and education
is a strategy adopted for reducing the prevalence of anemia in the country.
The Government is implementing various health programmes including the
Reproductive & Child Health Programme under the umbrella of the National Rural Health Mission
(NRHM) in all States/UTs including Gujarat, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh. Some of the steps
taken to check prevalence of anemia under the NRHM are:
i. Iron and folic acid supplementation by providing iron and folic acid tablets having 100
mg of elemental Iron and 0.5 mg of folic acid for at least 100 days to pregnant & lactating
women, iron and folic acid syrup having 20 mg of elemental Iron and 100 mcg of folic acid per
ml of liquid formulation to 6 months to 5 years children, small tablet having 30 mg elemental
Iron and 250 mcg of folic acid to children 6-10 years
ii. The Weekly Iron-Folic Acid supplementation Scheme (WIFS) has been launched targeting
adolescent girls in order to decrease prevalence of anemia.
iii. Identification and tracking of severely anemic pregnant women at all the sub centres
and PHCs for their timely management.
iv. Deworming: Children under 5 years of age are provided deworming tablets/syrups twice a
year.
v. Malaria control programme including distribution of Long Lasting Insecticide Nets
(LLINs) and Insecticide Treated Bed Nets (ITBNs) in endemic areas to tackle the problem of
anaemia due to malaria particularly in pregnant women and children.
vi. Introduction of Safe Motherhood booklet and Mother and Child Protection (MCP) card
which are tools to enhance awareness and improve access to quality antenatal, intranatal and
postnatal care services.
vii. Besides the above, Schemes/programmes such as Integrated Child Development Services
Scheme (ICDS), Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls (RGSEAG), namely,
SABALA, and the Mid-day Meal (MDM) provide supplementary nutrition/meal. NRHM, ICDS and
SABLA (200 pilot districts) also have an inbuilt health and nutrition education component.
Health and nutrition education is one of the activities during Village Health and Nutrition
days (VHNDs) to promote dietary diversification, inclusion of iron folate rich food and
increase the awareness to bring about desired changes in the dietary practices including
the promotion of optimal Infant and Young Child Feeding Practices.
viii. Besides, Food and Nutrition Board (FNB) of the Ministry of Women and Child Development
with its 43 field units in India is engaged in creating awareness in nutrition in collaboration
with State Government / institutions through exhibitions; advertisement in audio-visual and
print medium; demonstrations of nutritious recipes; training of field functionaries of ICDS
and NRHM; training in food preservation; celebration of nutrition related important days etc.
