VIJAYAWADA: Andhra Pradesh got the second place among states in the implementation of the Centre’s Poshan Abhiyaan scheme. A Niti Aayog report titled ‘Preserving Progress on Nutrition in India: Poshan Abhiyan in Pandemic Times’ said 12 out of 19 large states had an implementation score of over 70 per cent. Maharashtra won the top rank, AP the second and Gujarat the third rank.
The report said that only 17 states and UTs had more than 75 per cent of children aged 12-23 months having been fully immunized, while 11 states and UTs had it at less than 25 per cent. It stressed the need of accelerating the use of funds released for Poshan Abhiyaan and ensuring adequate health facilities and supplies.
AP is first among states that made 100 per cent recruitment of human resources required for the implementation of Poshan Abhiyan during Covid.
AP stands at top in the distribution of mobile phones to Anganwadi workers and it also fully covered the distribution of children’s growth monitoring devices. AP offered staff training and capacity building at the state-level to full extent.
The report said that while assessing health-related services, infrastructure and human resources, AP scored the highest in community health centres, as also in relation to services for children and infants, and recruitment of ANMs. In terms of infrastructure at the state-level, community health centres, and health and wellness centres are functioning in full capacity in AP. On this count, AP is at top among the 13 big states. The state government has also distributed special supplementary nutrition, conducted home visits, virtual counseling and virtual classes for children.
During the Covid pandemic, from October 2019 to the second quarter of 2020, supplementary nutritional food was distributed to children aged between six months to six years, to an extent of 113 per cent. By the third quarter 2020, it was 115 per cent. By the fourth quarter, it rose to 119 per cent.
From October 2019 to the second quarter of 2020, the distribution of supplementary nutritional food to pregnant and lactating mothers was 108 per cent, while it was 111 per cent in the third and fourth quarters of 2020. From October 2019 to the second quarter of 2020, institutional adoption increased from 90 per cent in AP to 94 per cent in the third quarter 2020 and 100 per cent in the fourth quarter 2020.
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