Aim to bring anaemia figures below 30% by 2030: Dinesh Gundu Rao

Bengaluru: The state government aims to reduce the incidence of anaemia among women aged 15-49 from 47.8 per cent to below 30 per cent by 2030, said Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao on Wednesday. 

He was speaking at the launch of the Anaemia Muktha Poushtika Karnataka Action Plan on Wednesday. 

The plan proposal was developed by the Department of Health and Family Welfare along with the Department of Women and Child Development. After approval by the cabinet, the government issued an order on October 13 approving a budget of Rs 185.74 crore for the plan. 

Quoting statewide figures from the National Family Health Survey-5, the minister said that nearly 65.5 per cent of children aged between 6-59 months (5 years of age) were anaemic, and 45.7 per cent of pregnant women, besides 47.8 per cent of the women between 15-49 years of age were anaemic. 

The plan to screen, test and treat people across the state will be rolled out in a phased manner in six pillars, beginning with screening all adolescents across the state in December. 

He said that the department aims to screen nearly 1.7 crore children between 5-19 years of age by February. By March 2024, the department aims to reach school-going children and Anganwadi children as well, covering nearly 52 lakh children under the age of 5 by April. 

Besides this, 12 lakh pregnant women, 11 lakh lactating mothers and 1.33 crore women (not pregnant or lactating) between 20-49 years, will be screened in all public health care centres simultaneously, before the plan extends to the rest of the population. 

Rao said that the plan aims to create a malnutrition and anaemia-free state by addressing intergenerational challenges and comprehensive nutritional and medical interventions with the help of the Department of Women and Child Welfare. 

The screening data will be uploaded on the RBSK-Swastya Kirana Portal on a real-time basis and will be uploaded on the HMIS (Health Management Information System) portal periodically. 

Calling upon the Women and Child Welfare Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar and the health minister to work together, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said, "Without eradicating poverty and illiteracy, everyone will not get good health. So treating these three ills is the first priority of our government. Our government's aim is to bring health benefits to everyone's doorstep."