Anaemia cases up by 20 % in J&K Children, Ladakh tops natl chart

Jammu: Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed around 20 percent increase of anaemia cases among the children aged between six months to five years while Ladakh has topped the national chart with 94 percent jump in about five years.
According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-4 carried out by the Minister of Health and Family Welfare in 2015-16, the percentage of anaemia cases in Jammu and Kashmir in the age bracket of six month to five years was 53.8 percent. However, this has increased to 73 per cent in the Union Health Ministry's latest survey carried out in the year 2019-21.
Furthermore, newly carved Union territory of Ladakh topped the national chart with 90 per cent of children between six months to five years found infected with anaemia as per NFHS-5 carried in 2019-2021.
Ladakh’s anaemia case status was at 91.4 percent as per NHFS-4 (2015-16), when it was part of erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir State.
Ladakh was followed by Gujarat (80 per cent), Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (76 per cent).
The government further added that government of India implements Anaemia Mukt Bharat (AMB) strategy under POSHAN Abhiyaan (Prime Minister's Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition) with the target of reducing anaemia in the six population groups - children (6-59 months), children (5-9 years), adolescent girls and boys (10-19 years), pregnant women, lactating women and women of reproductive age group (15-49 years) in lifecycle approach.
Some of the major interventions by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare are to address anaemia under AMB, include prophylactic iron and folic acid supplementation, deworming, intensified year-round behaviour change communication campaign, testing of anaemia using digital methods and point of care treatment, addressing non-nutritional causes of anaemia in endemic pockets with special focus on malaria, hemoglobinopathies and fluorosis and monitoring progress in states and Union territories using Anaemia Mukt Bharat dashboard among others, GoI said in the written reply.

Updated On 8/6/2022 11:54:30 AM

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