Lok Sabha Question No. 3830 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-08-11
Subject: Anaemia among Adolescent Girls
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Manjulata Mandal, Dhanush M Kumar, Ganesan Selvam, C.N. Annadurai

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3830

TO BE ANSWERED ON 11.08.2023

## ANAEMIA AMONG ADOLESCENT GIRLS

- 3830    SHRIMATI MANJULATA MANDAL SHRI DHANUSH M. KUMAR SHRI SELVAM G. SHRI C. N. ANNADURAI

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

- (a) the details of the schemes being implemented by the Government for Adolescent Girls across the country;
- (b) the challenges faced by the Government while implementing the above scheme;
- (c) whether  the  introduction  of  the  said  scheme  has  reduced  the  incidence  of anaemia among the adolescent girls and if so, the details thereof and if not the reasons therefor; and
- (d) the steps taken by the Government to improve the incidence of anaemia among adolescent girls across all States/UTs?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)

(a)  to  (d) Government  has  accorded  high  priority  to  the  nutrition,  health  and development of adolescent girls in the country. This Ministry is implementing Scheme for Adolescent Girls (SAG) that aims at providing nutritional support to Adolescent Girls (AGs) [14-18 years] for improving their health and nutritional status under the nutrition component and providing them with IFA supplementation, Health check-up and Referral Services, Nutrition & Health Education and Skilling etc. under non-nutrition component of the Scheme. The targeted beneficiaries under the Scheme are AGs in the age group of 14 to 18 years in Aspirational Districts and all North Eastern State.

Under the scheme, supplementary nutrition containing 600 calories, 18-20 grams of protein and micro nutrients is provided to adolescent girls in the age group of 14-18 years  for  300  days  in  a  year.  Further,  adolescent  girls  are  being  provided  IFA supplementation, Health check-up and Referral services, Nutrition & Health Education, Skill Training etc. Emphasis is made on convergence of services under various schemes/ programmes of Health, Education, Youth Affairs & Sports, Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship etc. so as to achieve the desired impact.

Presently, the delivery of services under the Scheme is being monitored through Poshan Tracker application. As on June 2023, a total of 2287788 AGs have registered under the Scheme on the Poshan Tracker of which close to 81%  are Aadhaar verified.

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is implementing the 'Scheme for Promotion of Menstrual Hygiene 'since 2011 to promote Menstrual Hygiene among adolescent girls in the age group of 10-19 years as a component of Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK).  The  major  objectives  of  the  scheme  are  to  increase  awareness  among adolescent girls on menstrual hygiene, to increase access to and use of high quality sanitary napkins by adolescent girls and to ensure safe disposal of sanitary napkins in an environmentally friendly manner.

As  per  information  received  from  Ministry  of  Health  and  Family  Welfare  (M/o H&FW),  since  2015-16,  the  scheme  had  been  decentralized.  Based  on  proposals received from the States in their Programme Implementation Plans, funds are approved for decentralized procurement of sanitary napkin packs, for safe storage and disposal and for training of ASHA, AWW and nodal teachers. States have been instructed to  undertake  procurement  of  sanitary  napkins  packs  at  prices  reached  through competitive bidding. 31 States/UTs are implementing the scheme either with National

Health Mission (NHM) budget or combined budget of NHM and State.

Further, M/o H&FW also implements Weekly Iron Folic Acid Supplementation programme (WIFS) that entails provision of weekly supervised IFA tablets to in-school adolescent boys and girls and out-of-school adolescent girls for prevention of iron and folic acid deficiency anaemia, and biannual albendazole tablets for helminthic control. The programme  is  being  implemented  across  the  country  in  both  rural  and  urban  areas, covering  government  and  government  aided schools and Anganwadi  centres. Screening of targeted adolescents population for moderate/severe anemia and referral of cases to an appropriate health facility; and information and counselling for prevention of nutritional anemia are also included in the programme.

The  programme  is  implemented  through  convergence  with  key  stakeholder Ministries  viz.  Ministry  of  Women  and  Child  Development  and  Ministry  of Human Resource  Development, with joint programme planning, capacity building, and communication activities.

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