The newly launched Rashtriya Bal Swaasthya Karyakram of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare assures a package of health services for children up to 18 years of age.
The initiative, which is part of the National Rural Health Mission, was launched on February 6, in Palghar, a tribal dominated block of Thane district in Maharashtra, by UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, in the presence of Union Health & Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan. The programme will be extended to cover all districts of the country in a phased manner.
Early Detection; Early Intervention
Rashtriya Bal Swaasthya Karyakram, also known as Child Health Screening and Early Intervention Services aims at early detection and management of ‘4Ds’ prevalent in children. These are Defects at birth, Diseases in children, Deficiency conditions and Developmental delays including Disabilities.The health screening of children is a known intervention under School Health Programme. It is now being expanded to cover all children from birth to 18 years of age.
The services aim to cover all children of 0-6 years of age group in rural areas and urban slums, in addition to children enrolled in classes 1st to 12th in Government and Government aided schools. A set of 30 common ailments/health conditions have been identified for screening and early intervention.
Defects At Birth
Globally, about 7.9 million children are born annually with a serious birth defect of genetic or partially genetic origin which account for 6 percent of the total births.
In India about 1.7 million babies are born with birth defects annually. For those who do not receive specific and timely intervention and yet survive, these disorders can cause irreversible life-long mental, physical, auditory or visual disability.
Deficiencies
Anaemia prevalence has been reported as high as 70% amongst under-five children largely due to iron deficiency. The situation has remained virtually unchanged over the past decade. Almost half of children under age five years (48 %) are chronically malnourished. During pre-school years, children continue to suffer from adverse effects of anaemia, malnutrition and developmental disabilities, which ultimately also impact their performance in school.
Diseases
The prevalence of dental caries varies between 50-60 percent among Indian school children as reported in different surveys. Rheumatic heart disease is reported at 1.5 per thousand among school children in the age group of 5-9 years. The median prevalence of reactive air way disease including asthma among children is reported to be 4.75 percent.
Developmental Delays
Globally, 200 million children do not reach their developmental potential in the first five years because of poverty, poor health, nutrition and lack of early stimulation. The prevalence of early childhood stunting and the number of people living in absolute poverty could be used as proxy indicators of poor development in under five children. Both of these indicators are closely associated with poor cognitive and educational performance in children and failure to reach optimum developmental potential.
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