Lok Sabha Question No. 2261 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-07-29
Subject: Diarrhea and Malnutrition
Ministry: HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE
Asked by: Navneet Ravi Rana

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2261 TO BE ANSWERED ON 29 TH  JULY 2022

## DIARRHEA AND MALNUTRITION

## 2261: SHRIMATI NAVNEET RAVI RANA:

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

- (a) whether the Government is aware of death of newborn babies by diarrhea and malnutrition;
- (b) if so, the details thereof, State/UT-wise especially in Maharashtra;
- (c) whether the Government is formulating any plan for facilitating regular health check up of pregnant women living in rural and tribal areas and also to make them aware in this regard; and (d) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE (DR. BHARATI PRAVIN PAWAR)

(a) and (b): As per the Cause of Death Statistics report of Registrar General of India (2015-17), diarrhoea is one of the causes of neonatal mortality contributes to 2.3% of newborn deaths in India.  As  per  this  report,  the  mortality  due  to  diarrhoea  in  neonatal  age  group  is  2.9%  in Empowered Action Group (EAG) States (viz. Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Odisha) & Assam and 1.2% in other States. Malnutrition is not a direct cause of death in children; however, it can increase morbidity and mortality by reducing resistance to infections.

(c) and (d): The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) supports all States/UTs in implementation of Reproductive, Maternal, New-born, Child, Adolescent health and Nutrition (RMNCAH+N)  strategy  under  National  Health  Mission  (NHM)  based  on  the  Annual Programme Implementation Plan (APIP) submitted by States/ UTs to improve the health status of  pregnant  women  including  women  living  in  rural  and  tribal  areas.  The  details  of interventions are placed at Annexure I.

Ministry of Tribal Affairs also provides funds to the States based on their specific proposals as gap filling to address the issues covering health & nutrition of tribal population. The Ministry of  Tribal  Affairs  have  emphasized  capacity  building,  IEC  material  (use  of  traditional  food, minor  millet  in  the  food  basket  through  intervention  in  schools,  inclusion  in  curriculum personal hygiene, habit of clean toilets etc.) for dissemination by Tribal Research Institutes.

## Interventions for improving health status of pregnant women:

-  Surakshit  Matritva  Aashwasan  (SUMAN) is  implemented  to  provides  assured, dignified, respectful and quality healthcare at no cost and zero tolerance for denial of services  for  every  woman  and  newborn  visiting  public  health  facilities  to  end  all preventable maternal and newborn deaths.
-  Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA) is implemented to provides pregnant women a fixed day, free of cost assured and quality antenatal check up by a Specialist/Medical Officer on the 9th day of every month.
-  Under Janani  Shishu  Suraksha  Karyakram  (JSSK), every  pregnant  woman  is entitled to free delivery, including caesarean section, in public health institutions along with the provision of free transport, diagnostics, medicines, other consumables & diet
-  Monthly  Village  Health,  Sanitation  and  Nutrition  Day  (VHSND) is  an  outreach activity  at  Anganwadi  centres  for  provision  of  maternal  and  child  care  including nutrition in convergence with Ministry of Women and Child Development.
-  MCP Card and Safe Motherhood Booklet are distributed to the pregnant women for educating them  on  diet, rest, danger  signs of  pregnancy,  benefit  schemes  and institutional deliveries.
-  Reproductive and child health (RCH) portal is  a  name-based web-enabled tracking system for pregnant women and new born so as to ensure seamless provision of regular and complete services to them including antenatal care, institutional delivery and postnatal care.
-  Outreach  camps are  provisioned  for  improving  the  reach  of  health  care  services especially  in  tribal  and  hard  to  reach  areas.  This  platform  is  used  to  increase  the awareness for the Maternal & Child health services, community mobilization as well as to track high risk pregnancies.
-  Anaemia Mukt Bharat (AMB) strategy as a part of POSHAN Abhiyan is implemented to strengthen  the  existing  mechanisms  and  foster  newer  strategies  to  tackle  anaemia  which include testing and treatment of anaemia in school going adolescents & pregnant  women, addressing non nutritional causes of anaemia and a comprehensive communication strategy.
-  Capacity Building :  Several capacity building programs of health care providers are taken up for improving maternal and child survival and health outcomes.

## Annexure: I