India's Adolescent Anemia Control Programme: Ten Make-or-break Elements for Sustaining Success
Vani Sethi *
UNICEF India Country Office, New Delhi, India.
Sushma Dureja
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, New Delhi, India.
Sheetal Rahi
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, New Delhi, India.
Anshu Mohan
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, New Delhi, India.
Gayatri Singh
UNICEF India Country Office, New Delhi, India.
Victor M. Aguayo
UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia, Kathmandu, Nepal.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
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.