Bringing health services to the doorsteps of people in Karnataka is the goal of the Congress government, said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in Bengaluru on Wednesday.
Launching the “Anaemia Muktha Pousthika Karnataka” (anaemia-free Karnataka) programme organised by the State Health Department, the Chief Minister said ensuring good health for people is not possible without eradicating poverty and illiteracy. “Addressing these issues is the first priority of our government. Our government’s aim is to reach health benefits to everyone’s doorstep. The government is ready to provide the required funds for this,” he said.
Referring to the rising malnutrition index in the country and falling health index of Gujarat, Mr. Siddaramaiah ridiculed the much-talked about Gujarat model. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who refers to himself as Vishwaguru, ruled Gujarat for 10 long years. He must answer why Gujarat’s health index is falling. This is based on a comparison of data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 4 and NFHS-5. Can this situation in Gujarat be a model for the entire country?’’ he asked.
Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao said the goal is to make Karnataka anaemia-free by 2025. “The Chief Minister has earmarked ₹185.74 crore for the programme,” he said.
“Under the programme, the government aims to reach 52 lakh children in the 6-59 months age group, 58 lakh children in the 5-9 years group, 127 lakh adolescents in the 10-19 years group, 12 lakh pregnant women, 11 lakh lactating mothers, and 133 lakh women in the reproductive age group (20-49 years excluding pregnant women and lactating mothers) in a phased manner,” he said.
The programme will include mass screening for anaemia and malnutrition, strengthening the tracking and monitoring system, providing Iron and Folic acid (IFA) supplementation and deworming, providing take home ration and diet advisory, information, education and communication (IEC) and counselling services apart from capacity building.
Screening begins
Under the first phase, screening for anaemia began on Wednesday for adolescents in government and government aided colleges. Students of private PU Colleges in the State will be covered by December 2023.
While students of government and government aided high schools, higher primary schools and lower primary schools in the State will be covered by January 2024, anganawadi children will be screened by March 2024. Subsequently, pregnant women, lactating mothers, and women in the reproductive age group will be screened in all public health care institutions simultaneously, the Minister said.
The screening data will be uploaded on the RBSK-Swastya Kirana portal on a real-time basis and will be further periodically uploaded on HMIS portal, he said.
What anaemia does
Anaemia impairs cognitive and motor development among children, increase their susceptibility to illness, and in adults reduces work capacity, productivity, Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALY) and directly affects the economy of the family and society. In pregnancy, this contributes to high maternal, neonatal morbidity and mortality. Obstetrical risks like impairment of fetal development, low birth weight, neural tube defect, postpartum haemorrhage, still birth, prematurity, and maternal deaths are attributed to the presence of anaemia in women.
According to NFHS-5 data, in Karnataka, anaemia affects 47.8% of women in the reproductive age group (15-49 years) and 45.7% of pregnant women. It affects 65.5% of children aged 6-59 months, 49.4% of adolescent girls (15-19) years, 26.5% of adolescent boys (15-19) years, and 19.6% of men aged (15 to 49).
