Nagaland performs poorly in coverage of major health programs

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Oriental mirror desk

Dimapur, September 3 (EMN): According to a report by central government think tank NITI Aayog, there is a wide gap in coverage of key program activities of the Women and Child Development (WCD) and Health Departments in northern states. -is, especially Nagaland.

The report titled “Sustaining Nutrition Progress in India: Poshan Abhiyaan in Times of Pandemic” showed that Nagaland performed poorly with a score of one out of a total value of 12 in the area of ​​program activities and intervention coverage. (Refer to Table 1)


He said there is an opportunity for small states like Nagaland to improve coverage of interventions in the first 1,000 days and focus on childhood immunizations, antenatal care (ANC) and use of oral rehydration solution (ORS) for treatment. diarrhea.

The report also suggested strengthening service delivery in anemia interventions.

It can be mentioned that Poshan Abhiyaan is the Indian government’s flagship program aimed at improving the nutritional outcomes of children, pregnant and lactating women and adolescents.

To assess the progress of program implementation in all states and UTs, data was collected from the State/UT WCD and Health Departments on four key themes related to inputs and activities under Poshan Abhiyaan for March 2020. These include governance and institutional arrangements, strategy and planning, service delivery and capacity and program activities and intervention coverage.

States were divided into three categories – large (19), small (eight) and union territories (eight). The eight small states were Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Sikkim and Tripura.

In terms of overall implementation of the program in states and UTs, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat scored the highest achievements. Twelve of the 19 large states had an implementation score above 70%. Among the eight small states, Sikkim was the best performer in the overall implementation of Poshan Abhiyaan (over 75%), followed by Meghalaya, Tripura and Goa. Nagaland obtained an overall score of 51%. (Refer to Table 2)

Dadar and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Chandigarh and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands were ranked among the top three UTs with a score of over 70%.

With regard to governance and institutional mechanism, the maximum score given to a State/UT was 12. UTs scored high on this theme, according to the report.

Use of funds under Poshan Abhiyaan

All states/UTs received funds under the Centre’s flagship program, Poshan Abhiyaan, except Ladakh, which received part of Jammu and Kashmir’s central funds.

According to the report, utilization of funds under the Centre’s flagship program was highest in Kerala (58%) and lowest in Odisha (8%) among large states at the end of FY20.

Among small states, use of funds was highest in Nagaland (87%) and lowest in Arunachal Pradesh (9%), while among UTs use of funds was highest in Lakshadweep (65%) and lowest in Puducherry (22%).

The report indicates that four states (Nagaland, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura) distributed 100% of mobile phones and four states (Nagaland, Goa, Meghalaya and Mizoram) distributed 100% of growth monitoring devices. Supplies were lowest in Arunachal Pradesh (0% mobile phones, infant scales and adult scales; 2% infantometers; 2% stadiometers were distributed) and Manipur (21% cell phones; and 0% growth monitoring devices).

Two states (Goa and Sikkim) have 100% functional sub-centres; four states (Goa, Manipur, Meghalaya and Sikkim) have 100% functional community health centres; and two states (Nagaland and Goa) have 100% functional health and wellness centers, according to Niti Aayog’s report.

The results indicated that Arunachal Pradesh (63% of sub-centres and 39% of HWCs) and Nagaland (76% of sub-centres and 64% of CSCs were functional) should focus more on infrastructure.

Meanwhile, six states (Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Manipur, Meghalaya and Sikkim) had filled more than 75% of Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM) positions. Tripura (56%) had held less than 75% of ANM posts. 12 large states, four small states (Nagaland, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Sikkim) and four UTs held 100% of the joint project coordinator positions.

Only 13 states and UTs had more than 75% of pregnant women enrolled in prenatal care

(ANC) in the first trimester. In total, 19 states had more than 75% of pregnant women who had four or more antenatal visits. In Nagaland, Punjab and Tripura, less than 25% of pregnant women attended four or more antenatal visits.

In addition, there were major gaps in staff training on the Integrated Learning Approach (ILA) modules in several states, due to low training attendance, unavailability of training materials , the lack of trainers and the low level of education of Anganwadi workers.

Only 37% of funds used

Furthermore, he said that states use flexible funds to organize various events and camps that help achieve the purpose of the Abhiyaan.

He reported that on average, states/UTs used 37% of state-restricted funds through March 31, 2020.

The Niti Aayog report informed that the flexible fund approved by the State Level Sanction Committee (SLSC) for Nagaland is INR 213.55 lakh.

The state fund was used for the purchase of smoke-free Chullas for Peren district, a one-time grant to anganwadi centers for community events, the establishment of 22 nutri-gardens, ILA takeaways for 21 modules (25 takeaways), Integrated Child Development Services Common Application Software Training (ICDS-CAS) for Anganwadi Workers, Female Supervisors (LS), Development Project Managers, Project Managers child development and state officials, according to the report.

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