Lok Sabha Question No. 4052 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-01-04
Subject: Maternal and Child Health
Ministry: HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE
Asked by: PRALHAD VENKATESH JOSHI, KALIKESH NARAYAN SINGH DEO

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4052 TO BE ANSWERED ON 04 TH JANUARY, 2019

## MATERNAL AND CHILD H EALTH

## 4052. SHRI PRALHAD JOSHI:

## SHRI KALIKESH N. SINGH DEO:

Will the Minister of HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government has recently inaugurated the India Day event and if so, the details and objectives thereof and the manner in which various health issues of mother and chi ld are likely to be addressed;

(b) the other steps taken/being taken by th  Government to improve reproductive and maternal health in the country;

(c)  whether  the  Government  has  made any  attempt  to  increase  awareness regarding  maternal health in the country; and

(d) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE (SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)

(a): Yes; the objective of organizing India Day event as part of Partner's Forum, 2018 was to share achiev ements, learnings and innovations from Government of India's flagship Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal, Child and Adolescent Health Programme, and to build on learnings to respond to evolving needs of programme stakeholders.

(b) : Steps taken/ being taken by the Government to improve reproductive and maternal health in the country are annexed.

(c) & (d): The Ministry of Health has developed a Safe Motherhood Booklet which is given to all pregnant women. It is a tool for informing the pregnant women about various aspects of pregnancies such as registration, antenatal check -ups, nutrition, hygiene, family support, danger signs, post natal care, new born care, breastfeeding and immunisation, family planning etc

Ministry of Health & Family welfare and Ministry of Women and Child Development (MOWCD) has jointly developed Mother and Child Protection (MCP) card which is provided to all pregnant women. This card includes information such as care during pregnancy, schemes pregnant  women  such  as  Janani  S uraksha  Yojana  (JSY),  Janani  Shishu  Suraksha  Karyakram (JSSK), Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA) etc.

Funds are provided to States/ UTs through the annual programme implementation plans for IEC activities at State/ district level. Special intensive IEC campaigns are design schemes of the Ministry such as JSSK, PMSMA, Anemia Mukt Bharat etc to raise awareness o beneficiaries.

## Steps taken/ being tak en by the Government to improve reproductive health in the country

- Mission Parivar Vikas : The Government has launched MissionParivar Vikasfor substantially increasing access to contraceptives and family planning services in 14 fertility districts of seven high focus states
- New Contraceptive Choices : The current basket of choice has been expanded to include th new contraceptives viz. Injectable contraceptive under Antara programme, Centchroman and Progesterone Only Pills (POP).
- Family  Planning  Logistics  Management  Information  System  (FP -LMIS) has  been launched.
- New Family Planning Media Campaign
- Redesigning Contraceptive Packaging : T he  packaging  for  Condoms,  Oral  Contraceptive Pills and Emergency Contraceptive Pills has now been improved and redesigned so as influence the demand for these commodities.
- Emphasis on Postpartum Family Planning (PPFP) especially PPIUCD services.
- Emphas is on Post Abortion IUCD (PAIUCD) services
- Compensation scheme for PPIUCD & PAIUCD acceptors and providers.
- Provision of IUCD services through IUCD 375 with 5 years effectivity and IUCD 380A with effectivity of 10 years).
- Compensation scheme  for sterilizat on acceptors - Under  the  scheme  MoHFW  provides compensation for loss of wages to the beneficiaries on account of undergoing sterilisat
- Scheme for Home delivery of contraceptives by ASHAs at doorstep of beneficiaries.
- Scheme for ASHAs to ensure spacing in births : Under the scheme, services of ASHAs are being utilized for counselling newly married couples to ensure delay of 2 years in bi marriage and couples with 1 child to have spacing of 3 years after the birth of 1st chi
- Pregnancy TestingKits (PTK) scheme :  The aim of the scheme is to make available the Pregnancy Testing Kits (PTKs) with ASHAs and at the sub - centre level for early detection of pregnancy and availing of other RCH services.
- Ensuring  quality  of  care  in  Family  Planning  servic es  by  establishing Quality  Assurance Committees in all states and districts.
- Increasing male  participation  and promotion  of  Non  Scalpel  Vasectomy through celebration of Vasectomy fortnight each year in November.

## Steps taken/ being taken by the Government to improve maternal health in the country

- Janani  Suraksha  Yojana  (JSY), a  demand  promotion  and  conditional  cash  transfer scheme  is  being  implemented  with  the  objective  of  reducing  Maternal  and  Infa Mortality by encouraging institutional deliveries.
- Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK) aims to eliminate out - of - pocket expenses for pregnant women and sick neonates.  Under JSSK, every pregnant woman is entitled free delivery, including caesarean section, in public health institutions. This als ludes absolutely free transport, diagnostics, medicines, other consumables, food and blo required. The scheme has now been expanded to cover sick infants up to one year of a
- Pradhan  Mantri  Surakshit  Matritva  Abhiyan  (PMSMA) has  been  launched  to pr ovide  fixed - day  assured,  comprehensive  and  quality  antenatal  care  universally  to pregnant women on the 9th of every month.
- LaQshya is a focused and targeted approach to strengthen key processes related to labour rooms and maternity operation theat res in order to improve quality of care around birth and ensure respectful maternity care.
- Special  provision  of Birth  waiting  homes has  been  made  under  NHM  for  pregnant women from tribal/ difficult areas.
- Under  NHM  States  are  supported  to  provide  monetary and  non - monetary  incentives including hard area allowances etc to attract Human Resources.
- Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Wings are established at high caseload facilities to improve the quality of care provided to mothers and children.
- Capacity  building of  MBBS  doctors  in  Anaesthesia  (LSAS)  and  Obstetric  Care including C - section (EmOC) skills is undertaken to overcome the shortage of speciali in these disciplines, particularly in rural areas. Skill Labs are being set up to enhance the quality of train ing.
- Mother  and  Child  Tracking  System  (MCTS) and  Mother  and  Child  Tracking Facilitation Centre (MCTFC): A name based web enabled system has been introduced by Government of India to track every pregnant women and child in order to ensure a monitor timely and quality services to them.
- Universal  screening  of Gestational  Diabetes  Mellitus ,  screening  for hypothyroidism for high risk group during pregnancy has been initiated.
- Over  10  lakhs Accredited  Social  Health  Activists  (ASHAs) have  been  engaged  to facili tate access of health care services by the community, particularly pregnant wom
- Under the Anemia Mukt Bharat (Intensified National Iron Plus Initiative), iron and fo acid  supplementation  is  provided  across  life  stages  including  for  pregnant,  la g women and adolescent girls at health facilities and during outreach activities.