NEW DELHI: Nearly 95,000 adolescent girls living in five anaemia-prone districts in India will now be covered under an initiative aimed at improving their nutritional levels.
In this regard, the Ministry of Ayush and the Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Monday for the nutritional improvement of adolescent girls in the age group of 14-18 years through Ayurveda Interventions in a 12-month period.
The joint public health initiative for anaemia control among adolescent girls using Ayurveda interventions will be launched in five districts under Mission Utkarsh.
The MoU, which was signed in the presence of Ayush Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and WCD Minister Smriti Irani, will cover, in the first phase, five aspirational districts of five states - Assam (Dhubri); Chhattisgarh (Bastar); Jharkhand (Paschimi Singhbhum); Maharashtra (Gadchiroli); and Rajasthan (Dhaulpur). In these anaemia-prone districts, the average prevalence of anaemia is approximately 69.5%. The project will cover approximately 10,000 Anganwadi Centres in the five districts. Classical Ayurvedic medicines like Drakshavaleha and Punarnavadi mandoor will be given to improve the health of these anaemic adolescent girls for three months.
Speaking at the event, Irani said that introducing Ayush systems, backed by evidence from institutions like the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), will offer a cost-effective solution to tackle anaemia, which until now was unknown to the world.
She said that along with cost-effectiveness, introducing 95,000 beneficiaries in a time-bound outcome will provide opportunities for medical communities globally to study and reflect upon, thereby making it an initiative of global importance.
Irani also announced that the ministry will also take up a joint venture with the Ayush ministry and ICMR for effective interventions like yoga in Polycystic Ovarian Disease (PCOD) among adolescent girls. She hoped that India could lead in the prevention of anaemia by providing cost-effective and palatable Ayush medicines for better compliance with minimal adverse effects.
The minister said for the first time, an Ayush intervention is being evaluated by ICMR. “A positive outcome would allow the intervention to be rolled out all across the country and also outside. This evaluation is being done by the topmost medical institutions of the country like AIIMS, which provides excellent credibility to the study,” she added.
Sonowal said that both ministries are collaborating to make India free of anaemia. To achieve the goal of ‘Anaemia Mukt Bharat’ (Anaemia Free India), an MoU has been signed between the two ministries, he said.