The Health Ministry officially launched Weekly Iron and Folic Acid Supplementation (WIFS) on Wednesday (December 23) to bring down the levels of anaemia among the adolescent population in the country, especially adolescent girls.
Anaemia is a medical condition in which a person suffers from lack of red blood cells (Haemoglobin) in their blood levels, resulting in fatigue, impaired physical growth and weariness. This occurs due to deficiency of iron intake.
The government data shows that 56 per cent of girls and 30 per cent of boys in the age group of 15-19 years in India are anaemic, with a large percentage suffering from moderate to severe anaemia.
Under WIFS, adolescent children, who are going to government or aided school and the drop outs, will be administered a tablet once a week for 13 months, usually on Monday.
“For Swachh Bharat, we need Swastha (Healthy) Bharat. Comparing countries is not an answer as each has different sets of government and the size of population also varies,” said JP Nadda, Minister of Health and Family Welfare.
He added that the programme aims to cover 11.2 crore adolescents across the country.
“We have to address our weaknesses as India has resources, but we only lack awareness. We have the world’s largest Public Healthcare programme and we should be proud of it,” he said.
The Health Minister also appreciated the works of the Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA), who are actually working at the grass-root level.
Priyanka Chopra, the Bollywood actress, who is also the UNICEF’s goodwill ambassador, was also present at the venue, said, “The statistics for anaemia are so scary, particularly among the girl child. WIFS is a way of solving our problem to a great extent.”
She has spent almost a decade endorsing the campaigns of the Health Ministry and UNICEF.
My health improved to a great extent after I started taking the blue-coloured iron tablets. I had never fallen sick and continuously working since then, she added.
The health spending in India has gone down from 4.5 per cent in 2004 -05 to 4 per cent in 2013-14.
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Haider Ali Khan is an alumnus of IIMC. He holds a degree in English Journalism from the prestigious campus. His passion includes Aviation, Technology, Politics and Sports.
