Important Facts For Prelims
Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram
- 18 Mar 2020
- 2 min read
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).
