Odisha To Launch ‘Amlan’ Plan To Tackle Anaemia

Odisha To Launch ‘Amlan’ Plan To Tackle Anaemia

The Odisha government is all set to launch a new initiative in mission mode for accelerated reduction of anaemia among the children and women in the state. The initiative called ‘Anaemia Mukta Laqshya Abhiyan’ (Amlan) combines national and global best practices in the management of anaemia. It is likely to be introduced in July. The population of anaemic persons, particularly children and women, rising sharply in Odisha. Despite food supplement programmes, there has been an abnormal rise in anaemic patients in Odisha.

Several welfare programmes, including supplementary nutrition programme (SNP), notwithstanding, the prevalence of anaemia among different age groups has increased between 2015-16 and 2020-21 leaving the health experts worried. Under the scheme, the government has prepared a strategy to monitor the nutrition intake and other health supplements and testing and treatment of anaemic persons besides regulating their improvement.

A population-based intervention such as micronutrient supplementation, parasitic disease control, family planning and safe motherhood has been prepared for a reduction in anaemic cases, said Dr Bijay Panigrahi, Director, Family Welfare.

The government would carry out activities including strengthening the prophylaxis approach, testing, treating and talking (T3), addressing non-nutritional causes of anaemia, awareness, dietary diversity and year-round social behaviour change communication involving six departments across the state.

The targeted population has been divided into six groups. Those are children aged six months to 59 months, five years to nine years, 10 years to 19 years, women at reproductive age, and pregnant and lactating women. They will be tested for haemoglobin at schools and village health nutrition day (VHND) and T3 camps under Amlan.

The beneficiaries will be tested whether they are mild, moderate and severe. They will be treated for 2-3 months and tested again to know improvement. They will be put under a prophylaxis approach, if their condition improves and referred to the hospital for better treatment, if no improvement is noticed.

“The State has 1.37 crore people under the six groups. We have planned to conduct the quarterly T3 camps in every district to identify the anaemic cases. The guidelines have been prepared and will be released after incorporating the inputs from stakeholders,” added Dr Panigrahi.