Source: PIB & Business Standard
Aim
Stabilizing population growth in 146 districts of seven states that account for nearly 28 percent of the country’s population.
Focus areas
- The highly-populated districts in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and Assam have a total fertility rate (TFR) of three and above.
- These districts have been identified as high focus areas under the programme to accelerate access to high-quality family planning choices based on information, reliable services, and supplies.
- Under the initiative, specific targeted initiatives shall be taken for population stabilization through better services delivery
Parameters
- These 145 districts have been identified based on the total fertility rate and service delivery (PPIUCD and Sterilization performance) for immediate, special and accelerated efforts to reach the replacement level fertility goals of 2.1 by 2025.
Five pronged strategy
- Delivering assured services
- Building additional Capacity/ HRD for enhanced service delivery
- Ensuring commodity security
- Implementing new ‘Promotional Schemes’
- Creating Enabling Environment
Status of the Fertility rate in India
- Recent data suggest that these 145 districts have TFR of more than/equal to 3.0 (56% of the 261 districts in the 7 HFS) and are home to 28% of India’s population (about 33 Crores).
- However, only 22% of India’s protected couples and 40% of India’s couples with unmet needs reside in these districts.
- These districts also have a substantial impact on maternal and child health indicators as about 25-30% of maternal deaths and 50% of infant deaths occur in these districts Moreover, 115 of these districts (79%) have a high percentage of adolescent mothers.
The key strategic focus of this initiative is on improving access to contraceptives through delivering assured services, dovetailing with new promotional schemes, ensuring commodity security, building capacity (service providers), creating an enabling environment along with close monitoring and implementation.
