Lok Sabha Question No. 281 (STARRED), answered on 2020-03-13
Subject: Health Problems among Women and Children
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Rama Devi, Poonamben Hematbhai Maadam

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.281

TO BE ANSWERED ON 13.03.2020

## HEALTH PROBLEMS AMONG WOMEN AND CHILDREN

- *281. SHRIMATI RAMA DEVI: SHRIMATI POONAMBEN MAADAM:

Will the Minister of WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the benefits of the schemes and programmes implemented to tackle the  problems  of  underweight  and  anemia  in  children  and  chronic  fatigue  in women have  neither  reached  the  tribal,  backward,  slum  and  rural  areas  nor these schemes and programmes have been implemented as per the guidelines and if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor;
- (b) whether  as  a  result  of  the  above,  95  per  cent  of  children  became  victims  of malnutrition and 70 per cent of women became victims of acute ill health and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) the reaction of the Government thereto; and
- (d) the corrective steps taken by the Government in this regard?

## 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 18 th 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)                                              | By6%@2% p.a. |
|      2 | Prevent and reduce under-nutrition (underweight prevalence) in children (0-6 years)               | By6%@2% p.a. |
|      3 | Reduce the prevalence of anemia among young Children(6-59 months)                                 | By9%@3% p.a. |
|      4 | Reduce the prevalence of anemia among Women and Adolescent Girls in the age group of 15-49 years. | By9%@3% p.a. |
|      5 | Reduce Low Birth Weight (LBW).                                                                    | By6%@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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