Tag Archives: Health and nutrition

Ministry of Women and Child Development to celebrate the BBBP Week from 09th to 14th October

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National wide activities and awareness generation campaigns to mark the celebration of BBBP Week.

The Ministry of Women and Child Development will be celebrating the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Week from 09th to 14th October, 2017. The week is being celebrated in view of the International Girl Child Day on 11th October, 2017. The theme of the program will be “Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Week- The Daughters of New India”.

Briefing the media in New Delhi today, Secretary WCD, Shri Rakesh Srivastava said that the International Girl Child Day is celebrated every year to promote empowerment of girls and reinforce gender equality. It also provides a platform to raise issues, concerns and challenges faced by girls. In order to influence national and mainstream discourse in favour of girls and women and visibility to BBBP, which is one of the flagship programmes of Government of India, Ministry of WCD will be celebrating the BBBP Week, he explained.

BBBP Scheme (Celebrate Girl Child, Enable her Education) was launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister on 22nd January, 2015 at Panipat, Haryana as a comprehensive programme to address the declining CSR and related issues of disempowerment of women over a life-cycle continuum. The Scheme is being implemented in 161 districts of the Country and has completed two and half years of its implementation on ground. During this period, the States/UTs/Districts have undertaken several innovative initiatives to address the issue of declining child sex ratio and promote value of girl child.

The collective and coordinated efforts undertaken at national, state and districts level has been successful in establishing a substantial improvement in the number of girls being born in the target districts. As per the HIMS data for the 161 districts of BBBP, an increasing trend in Sex Ratio at Birth is visible in 104 BBBP Districts during 2016-17 as compared to the period 2015-16. Similarly, 119 districts have reported progress in registration of pregnancies in the first trimester during 2016-17 as compared to 2015-16. During the same period, Institutional deliveries against the total reported deliveries have improved in 146 districts in comparison to the previous year.

In this background, the BBBP districts have been requested to organize activities in a campaign mode to observe the Week starting from 9th October – 14th October 2017 to create awareness and sensitize community in their respective districts. The week-long celebration will witness various awareness generation activities and community engagement programmes such as Oath ceremonies, prabhat pherries, rallies, nukkad natraks, street plays, joint door to door campaigns by AWWs and ASHAs, Posters/Slogan-writing/ Drawing/Painting competition among school children, tree plantation in the name of girl child, distribution of birth certificates, opening of Sukanya Samriddhi Accounts, sensitization/orientation/counseling sessions and talk shows on gender, health and nutrition, legal rights and Acts.

At the National level, the occasion will also be marked by a Panel Discussion to be held on 11th October, 2017 coinciding with the theme for this year’s International Day of the Girl –“Girls Progress=Goals Progress: What Counts for Girls” to engage key sport influencers and women and girls role models from the field, to generate support through their voice and reach. Smt. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi, Minister of WCD will be addressing the audience at the Panel Discussion, in whichsome of India’s leading women Sports Icons and local BBBP Champions will take part. Minister of State for Women and Child Development, Dr. Virendra Kumar will kickstart the BBBP week celebrations in New Delhi on 09th October, 2017.

PM addresses Young Entrepreneurs at the “Champions of Change” initiative organised by NITI Aayog

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The Prime Minister today interacted with Young Entrepreneurs at the “Champions of Change” initiative organised by NITI Aayog at Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra.

Six groups of Young Entrepreneurs made presentations before the PM on themes such as – Soft Power: Incredible India 2.0; Education and Skill Development; Health and Nutrition; Energizing a sustainable tomorrow; and Digital India; New India by 2022.

Appreciating the new ideas and innovations envisaged in the presentations made by the entrepreneurs, the Prime Minister said, that in times past, social initiatives had catered to the requirements of people at large, and these movements were spearheaded by eminent people in society.

The Prime Minister described the “Champions of Change” initiative as one effort to bring together diverse strengths for the benefit of the nation and society.

The Prime Minister said this initiative would be taken forward and institutionalised in the best possible way. One possibility could be to associate the groups that made presentations today, with the respective departments and Ministries in the Union Government.

He gave the example of Padma Awards to say how processes can be transformed to recognise hitherto unknown heroes of society.

The Prime Minister said the team of senior officers in Union Government are keen to explore new avenues and ways for the betterment of people. He encouraged the entrepreneurs to continue their ideation in their respective groups. He said that if they did so, they could go a long way in furthering the cause of governance.

The Prime Minister said a lot of small changes have been brought in by the Union Government, which have brought significant results. He said trusting the common man, through self attestation of documents is one such initiative. He also mentioned the abolition of interviews for Group C and D positions in the Union Government.

Shri Narendra Modi said that today there is an “app” for filling every gap. He said technology and innovation should be harnessed to transform governance. He said decentralised structures are important to nurture the rural economy. In this context, he mentioned the role of startups in catalysing transformation.

The Prime Minister emphasized the importance of good teachers in society. He said technology can provide a big boost to the quality of education.

The Prime Minister encouraged the entrepreneurs to work towards promoting the social welfare schemes of the Government among their employees.

He emphasized that New India could only be built through the efforts of crores of ordinary citizens. He invited the entrepreneurs to join in this effort.

Several Union Ministers, Vice Chairman NITI Aayog Shri Arvind Panagariya, and senior Union Government officers were present on the occasion. The event was coordinated by CEO NITI Aayog, Shri Amitabh Kant.

Controlling Chronic Anaemia in Women

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According to National Family Health Survey (NFHS)–IV (2015-16), the prevalence of anemia among women aged 15 to 49 years is 53%. In order to prevent anaemia among women and children, National Iron Plus Initiative (NIPI) has been launched in 2013, a flagship scheme under the National Health Mission based on the life-cycle approach, under which iron-folic acid supplementation is provided to the vulnerable age groups. It includes Pregnant and lactating women and Women in reproductive age (WRA) group.

Measures taken by Government to ensure optimum nutritional requirements for women are:

• Universal screening of pregnant women for anaemia is a part of ante-natal care and all pregnant women are to be provided iron and folic acid tablets during their ante-natal and post natal visits through the existing network of sub-centers and primary health centres and other health facilities as well as through outreach activities at Village Health & Nutrition Days (VHNDs) and also through the ASHAs. After the first trimester of pregnancy, every pregnant woman during ANC is to be given iron and folic acid (IFA) tablets for six months, and six months post-partum. Pregnant women, who are found to be clinically anaemic, are to be given double the dose of IFA.

• Government of India has given directions to the States for identification and tracking of severely anaemic cases at all the sub centres and PHCs for their timely management.

• Health and nutrition education to promote dietary diversification, inclusion of iron foliate rich food as well as food items that promote iron absorption.

• To address anaemia due to worm infestation, deworming of pregnant women is done after first trimester preferably in second trimester of pregnancy.

• To tackle the problem of anemia due to malaria particularly in pregnant women and children, Long Lasting Insecticide Nets (LLINs) and Insecticide Treated Bed Nets (ITBNs) are being distributed in endemic areas.

The Minister of State (Health and Family Welfare), Sh Faggan Singh Kulaste stated this in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha here today.