ANSWER
MINISTER OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
(SHRIMATI SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)
(a) to (d) : A statement is laid on the Table of the House.
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Statement referred to in reply to Part (a) to (d) of Lok Sabha Starred Question No. 281 for answer on 13.03.2020 by SHRIMATI RAMA DEVI and SHRIMATI POONAMBEN MAADAM regarding Health Problems among Women and Children
(a) to (d): Government is implementing POSHAN Abhiyaan (earlier known as National Nutrition Mission) since 18th December 2017 to address the problem of malnutrition in the country including the problem of underweight and anemia in women and children. To ensure a holistic approach, all districts of States/UTs have been covered in the Abhiyaan including tribal areas. The Abhiyaan is implemented in the tribal, backward, slum and rural areas also. The goals of POSHAN Abhiyaan are to achieve improvement in nutritional status of Children from 0-6 years, Adolescent Girls, Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers in a time bound manner during the three years with fixed targets as under:
S.No Objective Target
1. Prevent and reduce Stunting in children (0- 6 years) By 6% @ 2% p.a.
2. Prevent and reduce under-nutrition (underweight prevalence) in children (0-6 years) By 6% @ 2% p.a.
3. Reduce the prevalence of anemia among young Children(6-59 months) By 9% @ 3% p.a.
4. Reduce the prevalence of anemia among Women and Adolescent Girls in the age group of 15-49 years. By 9% @ 3% p.a.
5. Reduce Low Birth Weight (LBW). By 6% @ 2% p.a.
POSHAN Abhiyaan aims to reduce malnutrition in the country in a phased manner, through a life cycle approach, by adopting a synergised and result oriented approach. The major activities undertaken under the POSHAN Abhiyaan are community mobilization including community based events, creating awareness, advocacy leading to Jan Andolan- to educate the people on nutritional aspects, ensuring convergence at various levels, Information Technology enabled Common Application Software for strengthening service delivery and interventions, Capacity Building of Frontline Functionaries, incentivizing States/UTs for achieving goals etc.
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare conducts National Family Health Survey. Analysis of National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 3 (2005-06) and NFHS 4 (2015-16) data shows that health outcome indicators of tribal population have improved due to focused interventions in tribal areas.
Further, the Government is also implementing several schemes/programmes of different Ministries/Departments through States/UTs to address various aspects related to nutrition. This Ministry of Women and Child Development is implementing Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana, Anganwadi Services and Scheme for Adolescent Girls under the Umbrella Integrated Child Development Services Scheme (ICDS) as direct targeted interventions to address the problem of malnutrition in the country.
Under National Health Mission, Government of India has been implementing Anemia Mukt Bharat (AMB) strategy since 2018 to reduce anemia prevalence @ 3 percent per annum in children (6-59 months), children (5-9 yrs), adolescent (10-19 yrs), pregnant and lactating women and women in reproductive age (15-49 yrs) in programme mode through life cycle approach to prevent and treat anemia through Iron & Folic Acid (IFA) supplementation across life stages. National guidelines for effective implementation of the programme components under the strategy across all the age groups have been issued by the government of India to all the States/UTs for universal implementation of the programme in both rural and urban areas across all the districts of the country.
Moreover, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare is implementing various schemes/programmes such as Janani Suraksha Yojana, Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakaram, Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan SUMAN (SURAKSHIT MATRITVA AASHWASAN) etc. for over-all improvement of women’s health including tribal, backward, slum and rural areas in the country.
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