Anaemia in Indian Children (6x6x6 strategy)

What is Anaemia?

It is a condition in which the blood doesn’t have enough healthy red blood cells.
Anaemia results from a lack of red blood cells or dysfunctional red blood cells in the body. This leads to reduced oxygen flow to the body’s organs.
Symptoms may include fatigue, skin pallor, and shortness of breath, light-headedness, dizziness or a fast heartbeat.

Background to Anemia Mukt Bharat (AMB) and 6x6x6 strategy

The anaemia control programme review indicated challenges in IFA supply chain management, demand generation and monitoring. Considering, the slow progress i.e.

less than 1% per annum in the reduction of anaemia from 2005 to 2015, the Government of India has launched the Anemia Mukt Bharat (AMB) strategy under the Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nourishment (POSHAN) Abhiyaan and the targets has been set to reduce anaemia by 3% per year

The 6x6x6 strategy:

The 6x6x6 strategy under AMB implies six age groups, six interventions and six institutional mechanisms. The strategy focuses on ensuring supply chain, demand generation and strong monitoring using the dashboard for addressing anaemia, both due to nutritional and non-nutritional causes.

a. The six population groups under the AMB strategy are:

1. Children (6-59 months)
2. Children (5-9 years)
3. Adolescents girls and boys (10-19 years)
4. Pregnant women
5. Lactating women
6. Women of Reproductive Age (WRA) group (15-49 years

b. The six interventions are:

Prophylactic Iron and Folic Acid Supplementation
Deworming
Intensified year-round Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) Campaign and delayed cord clamping
Testing of anaemia using digital methods and point of care treatment
Mandatory provision of Iron and Folic Acid fortified foods in Government-funded health programmes
Addressing non-nutritional causes of anaemia in endemic pockets with special focus on malaria, hemoglobinopathies and fluorosis and the six institutional mechanisms.

c. The six institutional mechanisms are: