1^ST INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISM OUT OF 6

At the national level, the existing Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK) National Steering Committee will be expanded to include the National Anemia Mukt Bharat Steering Committee.

The Steering Committee will have biannual convergent meetings in coordination with the respective divisions within MoHFW associated with the strategy chaired by the Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, with invitation to other related Ministries such as Tribal Welfare (residential schools), Ministry of Woman and Child Development (POSHAN Abhiyaan), Ministry of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NRLM) and MHRD (Department of School Education and Literacy)and other experts as approved by the chair.

The composition of the Steering Committee will be:

2^ND INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISM OUT OF 6

The State/UT should establish a state unit and designate a nodal officer. The State Unit will ensure accountability and effective implementation of the strategy.

At the district level, under the supervision of the CMO/CDHO, the District Programme Officer under the National Health Mission will be in-charge of the day-to-day implementation of this strategy and the BMO/BHO will be the nodal officer at the block level.

3^RD INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISM OUT OF 6

All India Institute of Medical Sciences (Centre for Community Medicine), New Delhi, will house the NCEAR-A. The Centre will provide the following support to MoHFW:

• Provide technical inputs with focus on multi-sectoral approach for policy making, programme guidelines and programme implementation for anemia control programme in India.
• Address research needs including operational research for anemia control in India.
• Act as an apex reference laboratory for anemia screening and diagnosis at the national level.
• Facilitate periodic programme review and capacity building of anemia control programme personnel and state-level institutes to strengthen programme implementation including revising training components for service providers and programme managers, teachers, ASHA and ANMs, and AWWs respectively with NCERT/DIET, SIHFW, NHSRC, and NIPCCD.
• Support supply chain monitoring and develop protocols/modules for improvement, including technical specifi cations.
• Support periodic rapid assessments, implementation science research and external evaluations related to Anemia Mukt Bharat.

At the state level, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (Centre for Community Medicine/Medical College/Nutrition College), can be designated as State Centre for Excellence and Advanced Research for Anemia Control (SCEAR-A).

SCEAR-A can help in trainings, monitoring and acting as the apex reference laboratory for anemia screening and diagnosis at the state level.

4^TH INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISM OUT OF 6

Inter-ministerial convergence under the strategy will be ensured via existing convergence platform under the POSHAN Abhiyaan. One of the targets under POSHAN Abhiyaan is ‘anemia reduction by 3 percent per annum’.

An Executive Committee under the Chairpersonship of Secretary, MoWCD, has been established via Government of India Letter No. NNM/50/2017-WBP8 dated 3 January 2018, wherein the Secretary, MoHFW, is a member. Therefore, all issues related to Anemia Mukt Bharat for which inter-ministerial convergence is needed should be discussed during this committee meeting.

Similarly, State Executive Committee of POSHAN Abhiyaan should be Executive Committee of Anemia Mukt Bharat strategy.

5^TH INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISM OUT OF 6

To ensure uninterrupted supplies, states may consider:
(a) introducing auto-indents at the district level, (b) provision for multi-year rate contracts (RC) and multi-vendor policy, (c) centralized procurement at the state level instead of district level procurement, and (d) Iron Folic Acid supplements and albendazole tablets included as part of the Essential Drug List (EDL).

The State will strengthen convergence with the Central Drug Warehouses and periodic verification and audit of the supply chain at all levels. The stock positions of IFA supplements and albendazole tablets will also be monitored as part of programme monitoring and therefore states should ensure timely programme service delivery and stock position data entry into HMIS and Drugs and Vaccines Distribution System (DVDMS)/e-aushadi, for monitoring real-time stock availability.

The annual requirement for prophylactic Iron Folic Acid supplements and albendazole tablets will be estimated as per Annexures 6 and 7.

6^TH INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISM OUT OF 6

The Anemia Mukt Bharat portal (www.anemiamuktbharat.info) is a one-stop shop of materials developed under the Anemia Mukt Bharat strategy in one place, such as communication resource material, survey data, targets, state and district-wise denominators, and state and district-wise quarterly progress reports.

All of these resources can be efficiently utilized by policy makers, programme managers and medical corporation/procurement agencies for planning, implementing and monitoring the strategy. Its free download-able mobile application is also available.