Mumbai, Mar 8 (PTI) Promoting the health of adolescent girls and women not only promotes the health of the newborn but also prevents low birth weight, preterm birth and newborn deaths, according to a study conducted in Nashik district of Maharashtra, the UNICEF said on Tuesday.
In Maharashtra, Pune maternal nutrition study was initiated in 1994 and Mumbai maternal nutrition study was implemented during 2006 –2012 for understanding the factors responsible for the prevention of low birth weight. Maharashtra government’s Public Health Department rolled out the first-ever primary health care innovation for promoting the health of women in the Peth and Sinnar blocks of the Nashik district. The planning for this innovation was started in 2017-18 and actual implementation was started from April 7, 2018, and the follow up of women planning their families was completed from August 2018 to October 2020 (27 months), Unicef said in a statement.
Health and nutrition status of women including the weight and haemoglobin level, age at conception, levels of multiple micro-nutrients during the periconception period are critical determinants for the health of the offspring, it said.
Pre-conception health promotion and care (PCC) in women prevents death and morbidity among them and prevents stillbirth, newborn death, low birth weight, prematurity, poor cognitive development in children, the statement said.
In this intervention, health workers implemented different strategies to promote the health of the women during the preconception period. This included achieving a normal Body Mass Index (BMI), preventing and treating anaemia with iron-folic acid tablets and deworming.
“The improvement in women’s health and reduction in adverse pregnancy outcomes is a remarkable achievement in the background of slowdown in economic growth in Maharashtra during the last few years, COVID-19 pandemic and evidence of economic distress impacting household income and food security,” UNICEF said.
“You are what you eat. But the latest evidence highlights that you are what your mother (and father) ate at the time of conception. I am proud that the Department of Public Health pioneered Primary Health Care Innovation for empowering women and when you empower women, you empower the entire family and possibly the entire generation. We should scale up this intervention to the entire state” said Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope. PTI PR NSK NSK
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