Lok Sabha Question No. 4039 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-03-24
Subject: Reproductive Health of Women
Ministry: HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE
Asked by: Jagannath Sarkar

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4039 TO BE ANSWERED ON 24 TH  MARCH, 2023

## REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH OF WOMEN

## 4039: SHRI JAGANNATH SARKAR:

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

- (a)   whether the Government has taken any steps to address the cultural barriers related to reproductive health of women in the last few years; and
- (b)  if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

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

## (a) & (b):

Government of India has taken adequate steps to provide awareness related to importance of early  registration  of  pregnancy,  importance  of  Antenatal  Care  and  regular  check-ups,  and Institutional Deliveries, Nutrition, Healthy Diet, and Healthy Lifestyle through the following initiatives  among  all  pregnant  women  to  ensure  Reproductive  Maternal  Newborn  Child Adolescent Health & Nutrition (RMNCHA+N) services.

-  Pradhan  Mantri  Surakshit  Matritva  Abhiyan  (PMSMA) provides  a  minimum package of antenatal care services including investigations and drugs on the 9 th day of every month.
-  Monthly Village Health, Sanitation and Nutrition Days (VHSND) Community Outreach for provision of maternal and child care services.
-  Mother  Child  Protection  (MCP)  Card  and  Safe  Motherhood  Booklet is a counselling  and  family  empowerment  tool  which  ensures  tracking  of  mother  and child.
-  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.
-  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 post-natal care.
-  Under Universal Immunization Programme (UIP), two doses of Tetanus and Adult Diphtheria (Td) vaccine are administered to all pregnant women within a gap of 28 days between the doses, to prevent the occurrence of neonatal tetanus.  To increase the  uptake  of  Td  vaccine,  Interpersonal  communication  (IPC)  is  taken  up  by  the frontline workers emphasizing the need and the importance of vaccine. Besides IPC, pregnant  women  are  also  counseled  during  Village  Health  and  Nutrition  days (VHNDs),  mother's  meeting  and  other  local  meetings.  Further,  religious  leaders, community  influencers  are  also  engaged  to  increase  the  awareness  about  the  Td vaccines in pregnant women.

The Government has also taken following steps to promote Family Planning in the Country: -

-  Mission  Parivar  Vikas (MPV)  is  implemented  in  13  States  for  substantially increasing access to contraceptives and Family Planning services.
-  Family Planning Media Campaign A 360-degree holistic Family Planning media campaign was developed and disseminated across the Country.
-  World Population Day & Fortnight is observed every year to boost awareness and service delivery across all the States/ UTs.
-  Expanded Contraceptive Choices with inclusion of new contraceptives namely Injectable contraceptive (Antara programme) and Centchroman (Chhaya).
-  Post-pregnancy contraception in the form of Post-partum Intra-uterine contraceptive device  (PPIUCD),  Post-Abortion  Intrauterine  contraceptive  device  (PAIUCD),  and Post-partum Sterilization (PPS) are provided to beneficiaries.
-  Condom  boxes have  been  set  up  in  health  facilities  to  enable  clients  to  access condoms in privacy.
-  Scheme for Home Delivery of contraceptives by Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) at doorstep of beneficiaries.

At  the  same  time,  Comprehensive  Abortion  Care  (CAC)  is  an  important  program  under RMNCHA+N strategies under National  Health  Mission.  It  aims  to  provide  safe  and  legal abortion services to  women who need to terminate a pregnancy due to certain therapeutic, eugenic, humanitarian or social grounds. There are many stigma, myths and misconceptions related to social and cultural issues for abortion.

Information  Education  Communication  (IEC)/  Behavior  Change  Communication (BCC) activities are essential part of Antenatal & Post Natal Services provided at community & facility level. Many IEC materials have been developed for sensitizing community, health care  providers  and  other  stake  holders  for  safe  abortion  services.  Booklets  and  leaflets  for sensitizing  ASHAs  have  been  developed  on  information  related  to  abortion  and  for overcoming  the  barriers  to  abortion  care  services.    Counseling  services  are  also  provided during provision of comprehensive abortion care services.