The Centre launched an initiative to improve nutrition in adolescent girls using Ayurveda.
The project for anaemia control under Mission Utkarsh will be a joint public health initiative by the Ministries of Ayush and Women and Child Development and would be launched in five aspirational districts first as a pilot project.
The two ministries signed an MoU for the scheme. Union Minister for Ayush Sarbananda Sonowal and Union Minister of Women and Child Development Smriti Irani were present at the ceremony.
Under Mission Utkarsh, 15 central ministries or departments will work to elevate districts at the bottom, to state and national averages.
In the first phase, the focus may be on improving the anaemic status of adolescent girls (14-18 years) in five aspirational districts of five states namely Assam (Dhubri), Chhattisgarh (Bastar), Jharkhand (Paschimi Singhbhum), Maharashtra (Gadchiroli), and Rajasthan (Dhaulpur).
This project will cover approximately 10,000 Anganwadi Centres in the five districts. The aim is nutritional improvement among approximately 95,000 adolescent girls in anaemia prone districts.
Ayush systems, backed by evidence from institutions like ICMR, will offer cost-effective solution to tackle anaemia, which were hitherto unknown to the world, Union Minister Smriti Irani said.
