India's Adolescent Anemia Control Programme: Ten Make-or-break Elements for Sustaining Success.
Article
in English
| IMSEAR
| ID: sea-164879
ABSTRACT
Objectives:
In India, 56% of adolescent girls are anemic. In response to this situation and building on 13 years of evidence-generation using a knowledge-centred framework (evidence, innovation, evaluation and replication), India's adolescent girls anemia control programme was universalized in 2013 covering 130 million adolescents. Implemented jointly by Ministries - Health, Education and Women and Child Development, services delivered by the programme include 1) weekly iron and folic acid supplementation; 2) bi-annual deworming; and 3) nutrition counselling. UNICEF is technically supporting the government in roll out of the programme in 14 Indian states that house 88 percent of total adolescent girls in India.Methods:
Using information emanating from programme reports analyses, structured interviews with state programme implementors and a national consultation, this presentation highlights ten make-or-break elements to address the most important challenges encountered in the universal rollout of the programme.Results:
Ten make-or-break elements are 1) political will along with well-defined inter-ministerial convergence and accountability mechanisms; 2) solving procurement challenges and continued supply monitoring; 3) instituting emergency response mechanisms (teams, helplines, standardized tools) for managing undesirable events; 4) sustained media engagement; 5) ensuring technical human resource support to state governments where capacity is sub-optimal; 6) devising a supplementation strategy during school vacations; 7) monitoring and evaluating the programme implementation independently through civil society/academia; 8) associating celebrities, parliamentarians and religious/peer leaders to mass communication campaigns; 9) ensuring functional review mechanisms; and 10) specific strategies to reach the unreached.Conclusions:
All the ten make-or-break elements are critical for ensuring success of an universal adolescent anemia control programme.
Full text:
Available
Index:
IMSEAR (South-East Asia)
Type of study:
Qualitative research
Language:
English
Year:
2015
Type:
Article
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