UPSC Prelims 2023 Q52: Anaemia Mukt Bharat Interventions — Explained
Consider the following statements in the context of interventions being undertaken under Anaemia Mukt Bharat Strategy:
1. It provides prophylactic calcium supplementation for pre-school children, adolescents and pregnant women.
2. It runs a campaign for delayed cord clamping at the time of child-birth.
3. It provides for periodic deworming to children and adolescents.
4. It addresses non-nutritional causes of anaemia in endemic pockets with special focus on malaria, hemoglobinopathies and fluorosis.
How many of the statements given above are correct?
- Only one
- Only two
- Only three
- All four
Answer: (c) Only three
Statement-wise explanation
- 1: incorrect — Under Anaemia Mukt Bharat, the prophylactic supplement is Iron and Folic Acid (IFA), not calcium. Each age group gets an age-appropriate IFA dose: IFA syrup for children aged 6–59 months, pink IFA tablets for children aged 5–9, blue IFA tablets for adolescents aged 10–19, and red IFA tablets for pregnant and lactating women. Calcium supplementation in pregnancy is a separate maternal-health intervention, and pre-school children get no calcium under this strategy. Swapping the micronutrient is what makes the statement wrong.
- 2: correct — One of the six AMB interventions is an intensified, year-round Behaviour Change Communication campaign. Promoting delayed cord clamping in all facility deliveries is part of it. The guidelines recommend clamping the cord after at least 3 minutes, or once cord pulsations stop, followed by breastfeeding within 1 hour. The extra placental blood gives the newborn more haemoglobin and iron stores, which means less anaemia later in infancy.
- 3: correct — Periodic deworming is one of the six AMB interventions. Children and adolescents aged 1–19 years get Albendazole twice a year on National Deworming Day (10 February and 10 August). Women of reproductive age and pregnant women (after the first trimester) are also covered. Worm infestation, especially hookworm, causes chronic blood loss and poor absorption of iron.
- 4: correct — The sixth AMB intervention is word for word: addressing non-nutritional causes of anaemia in endemic pockets, with special focus on malaria, haemoglobinopathies and fluorosis. Malaria destroys red blood cells. Sickle cell disease and thalassaemia are inherited haemoglobin disorders. Fluorosis is linked to anaemia in high-fluoride areas. Iron tablets alone cannot fix any of these causes.
How to eliminate
Basic knowledge settles two statements. Anaemia is mainly an iron problem, so an anaemia strategy is far more likely to give iron and folic acid than calcium. Calcium for 'pre-school children' should look out of place. Statement 1 is the most doubtful. Deworming (Statement 3) is a well-known anaemia measure because hookworms cause blood loss, so it is almost certainly true. Statement 4 reads like text lifted from an official document: a specific list (malaria, haemoglobinopathies, fluorosis) limited by 'in endemic pockets'. UPSC rarely invents such precise, cautious wording. Statement 2 is the hardest. Delayed cord clamping is real public-health practice and is a known way to build a newborn's iron stores, so it fits an anaemia programme. If you accept 2, 3 and 4 and reject 1, you get only three. To be certain, remember the six AMB interventions, and that the supplement is IFA, not calcium.
Know more
Anaemia Mukt Bharat (AMB) was launched by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in 2018 under the Intensified National Iron Plus Initiative and POSHAN Abhiyaan. It follows a 6×6×6 strategy: six target groups, six interventions and six institutional mechanisms. The original target was to cut anaemia prevalence by 3 percentage points a year.
| Six target groups | Six interventions |
|---|---|
| Children 6–59 months | Prophylactic Iron Folic Acid (IFA) supplementation |
| Children 5–9 years | Periodic deworming |
| Adolescents 10–19 years | Year-round Behaviour Change Communication (including delayed cord clamping) |
| Pregnant women | Testing with digital haemoglobinometers and point-of-care treatment |
| Lactating women | Mandatory IFA-fortified foods in government programmes (ICDS, PM POSHAN) |
| Women of reproductive age | Addressing non-nutritional causes in endemic pockets (malaria, haemoglobinopathies, fluorosis) |
The six institutional mechanisms include intra-ministerial coordination, a National AMB Unit, a National Centre of Excellence and Advanced Research on Anaemia, convergence with other ministries, a stronger supply chain, and an AMB dashboard for monitoring.
Why it matters: NFHS-5 (2019–21) found anaemia in 67.1% of children aged 6–59 months, 57.0% of women aged 15–49, 52.2% of pregnant women and 25.0% of men aged 15–49. All of these were worse than in NFHS-4.
What changed in 2026: AMB is becoming Anemia Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan (AMBA) under a 7×7×7 framework. It shifts from prophylaxis towards testing and therapeutic management, adds low-birth-weight infants as a seventh group, and runs a Jan Bhagidari communication campaign. A separate National Sickle Cell Anaemia Elimination Mission deals with the inherited cause named in Statement 4.
In the news
NFHS-5 (2019–21) showed anaemia rising in every group, including two in three young children. Throughout 2022–23 the Health Ministry kept citing the Anaemia Mukt Bharat 6×6×6 strategy in its replies to Parliament, which made the scheme's list of interventions a natural target for a statement-based question.
NCERT Concepts to Revise
- Hidden hunger: Iron-deficiency anaemia is the classic case of hidden hunger, which is why AMB relies on micronutrient supplements and fortified foods.
- Triple burden of malnutrition: Anaemia is the micronutrient-deficiency part of India's triple burden of malnutrition, the problem AMB was set up to address.