Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram
Why in News
Recently, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare informed the Rajya Sabha about the Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK) while discussing the health and well-being of adolescents in the country.
Key Points
- Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK) was launched by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) in 2014.
- It intends to ensure holistic development of the adolescent population.
- The RKSK programme defines an adolescent as a person within 10-19 years of age, in urban and rural areas, includes both girls and boys, married and unmarried, poor and affluent, whether they are in school or out of school.
- The programme also focuses on reaching out all adolescents including Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ).
- To guide the implementation of this programme, MoHFW in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has developed a National Adolescent Health Strategy.
- The six thematic areas of RKSK as well as that of the strategy are nutrition, sexual reproductive health, substance misuse, non - communicable diseases, mental health and injuries and violence.
- The programme envisages a paradigm shift from the clinic-based services to the promotion and prevention and reaching adolescents in their own environment, such as in schools, families and communities.
- The prime elements of the programme are:
- Adolescent Friendly Health Clinics (AFHCs) across various levels of public health institutions in all the States.
- Weekly Iron Folic Acid Supplementation (WIFS) Programme for school going adolescent boys and girls and out of school adolescent girls across the country.
- Peer Educator Programme in select 200 districts, based on Composite Health Index and identified as High Priority Districts (HPDs).
- The Menstrual Hygiene Scheme that provides funds to the States/UTs for procurement of sanitary napkins for Adolescent Girls (aged 10-19 years).