Prevalence of anemia among women aged 15 to 49 years is 53%

Prevalence of anemia among women aged 15 to 49 years is 53%

According to National Family Health Survey (NFHS)–IV (2015-16), the prevalence of anemia among women aged 15 to 49 years is 53%. According to National Family Health Survey (NFHS)–IV (2015-16), the prevalence of anemia among adolescent girls aged 15-19 years is 54%. The disaggregate data of adolescent girls suffering from anemia in the country, urban and rural-wise is not available.

Under the National Health Mission (NHM), the steps taken to tackle anaemia are:

1. Anaemia-Mukt Bharat(AMB) has been launched in the year 2018 as part of Intensified National Iron Plus Initiative (NIPI)Program for accelerating the annual rate of decline of anemia from one to three percentage points. The target groups for AMB are Children 6-59 months, 5-9 years, Adolescent Girls & Boys of 10-19 years, Women of Reproductive Age (15-49 years), pregnant Women and Lactating mothers.
2. Weekly Iron and Folic Acid Supplementation (WIFS) Programme is being implemented to meet the challenge of high prevalence and incidence of anaemia amongst adolescent girls and boys. The intervention under WIFS include supervised weekly ingestion of Iron Folic Acid (IFA) tablet (each IFA tablet contains 100mg elemental iron and 500µg folic acid) for 52 weeks in a year.To control worm infestation biannual de-worming with Albendazole 400mg is done, six months apart.
3. Health management information system & Mother Child tracking system is being implemented for reporting and tracking the cases of anaemic and severely anaemic pregnant women.
4. Universal screening of pregnant women for anemia is a part of ante-natal care and all pregnant women are provided iron and folic acid tablets during their ante-natal visits through the existing network of sub-centers and primary health centers and other health facilities as well as through outreach activities at Village Health & Nutrition Days (VHNDs). These women are also counselled for dietary habits.
5. Pradhan MantriSurakshitMatritvaAbhiyan (PMSMA) has been launched to focus on conducting special ANC check up on 9th of every month with the help of Medical officers/ OBGYN to detect and treat cases of anemia.
6. Every pregnant woman is given iron and folic acid, after the first trimester, to be taken 1 tablet daily for 6 months during ante-natal and post-natal period each. Pregnant women, who are found to be clinically anaemic, are given two tablets daily.
7. To address anaemia due to worm infestation, deworming of pregnant women is done after first trimester preferably in second trimester of pregnancy.
8. Operationalization of Blood Bank in District Hospitals and Blood Storage Unit in Sub district facilities such as Sub-Divisional Hospital/ Community health Centers is being taken to tackle complications due to severe anemia.
9. 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.
10. Health and nutrition education through IEC & BCC to promote dietary diversification, inclusion of iron folate rich food as well as food items that promotes iron absorption.
11. MCP Card and Safe Motherhood Booklet is being distributed to the pregnant women for educating them on dietary diversification and promotion of consumption of IFA.
12. Information, Education and Communication (IEC) material in the form of posters, hoardings, wall-writings and audio-visuals have been developed & disseminated to the States/UTs to promote prevention of anemia.

The Minister of State (Health and Family Welfare), ShAshwini Kumar Choubey stated this in a written reply in the Lok Sabha