Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK)

The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has launched a health programme for adolescents, in the age group of 10-19 years, which would target their nutrition, reproductive health and substance abuse, among other issues.

The Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram was launched on 7th January, 2014. The key principle of this programme is adolescent participation and leadership, Equity and inclusion, Gender Equity and strategic partnerships with other sectors and stakeholders. The programme envisions enabling all adolescents in India to realize their full potential by making informed and responsible decisions related to their health and well-being and by accessing the services and support they need to do so.

To guide the implementation of this programme, MOHFW in collaboration with UNFPA has developed a National Adolescent Health Strategy. It realigns the existing clinic-based curative approach to focus on a more holistic model based on a continuum of care for adolescent health and developmental needs.

The Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (National Adolescent Health Programme), will comprehensively address the health needs of the 243 million adolescents. It introduces community-based interventions through peer educators, and is underpinned by collaborations with other ministries and state governments.

The Vision

The strategy envisions that all adolescents in India are able to realise their full potential by making informed and responsible decisions related to their health and well-being, and by accessing the services and support they need to do so. The implementation of this vision requires support from the government and other institutions, including the health, education and labour sectors as well as adolescents’ own families and communities.

Building an agenda for adolescent health requires an escalation in the visibility of young people and an understanding of the challenges to their health and development. It needs implementation of approaches that will ensure a successful transition to adulthood. This requires that the multi-dimensional health needs and special concerns of adolescents are understood and addressed in national policies and a range of programmes at different levels.

Objectives

1. Improve nutrition
• Reduce the prevalence of malnutrition among adolescent girls and boys
• Reduce the prevalence of iron-deficiency anaemia (IDA) among adolescent girls and boys
2. Improve sexual and reproductive health
• Improve knowledge, attitudes and behaviour, in relation to SRH
• Reduce teenage pregnancies
• Improve birth preparedness, complication  readiness and provide early parenting support for  adolescent parents
3. Enhance mental health
• Address mental health concerns of adolescents
4. Prevent injuries and violence
• Promote favourable attitudes for preventing injuries and violence (including GBV) among  adolescents
5. Prevent substance misuse
• Increase adolescents’ awareness of the adverse effects and consequences of substance misuse
6. Address NCDs
• Promote behaviour change in adolescents to prevent NCDs such as hypertension, stroke, cardio-vascular diseases and diabetes

Target Groups

The new adolescent health (AH) strategy focuses on age groups 10-14 years and 15-19 years with universal  coverage, i.e. males and females; urban and rural; in school and out of school; married and unmarried; and vulnerable and under-served.

Strategies

1. Strategies/interventions to achieve objectives can be broadly grouped as:
• Community based interventions
• Peer Education (PE)
• Quarterly Adolescent Health Day (AHD)
• Weekly Iron and Folic Acid Supplementation Programme (WIFS)
• Menstrual Hygiene Scheme (MHS)
2. Facility based interventions
• Strengthening of Adolescent Friendly Health Clinics (AFHC)
3. Convergence
• Within Health & Family Welfare - FP, MH (incl VHND), RBSK, NACP, National Tobacco Control Programme, National Mental Health Programme, NCDs and IEC
• With other departments/schemes - WCD (ICDS, KSY, BSY, SABLA), HRD (AEP, MDM), Youth Affairs and Sports (Adolescent Empowerment Scheme, National Service Scheme, NYKS, NPYAD)
4. Social and Behaviour Change Communication with focus on Inter Personal Communication

Source: National Health Mission