The Centre is overhauling its flagship ‘Anaemia Mukt Bharat (AMB) Abhiyaan’, under which low birth weight (LBW) infants aged 0-6 months will be added as the seventh beneficiary group, recognising the importance of addressing anaemia from the earliest stages of life. Union Health Minister JP Nadda will release the operational guidelines for the revamped strategy at the 16th meeting of the Central Council of Health and Family Welfare (CCHFW) on Monday, introducing a more comprehensive, technology-enabled and community-driven approach, the ministry said in a statement.
The revised guidelines transform the existing Anaemia Mukt Bharat programme into Anaemia Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan, expanding its focus beyond iron supplementation to include early testing, therapeutic management, healthy dietary practices, digital tracking and community participation.
A key feature of the new guidelines is the introduction of a 7x7x7 strategy, replacing the earlier 6x6x6 framework. Under the revised strategy, low birth weight (LBW) babies aged 0-6 months have been added as the seventh beneficiary group, recognising the importance of addressing anaemia from the earliest stages of life, the statement said.
The seventh intervention, titled ‘Eating Right’, seeks to promote regular consumption of iron-rich and diverse diets as a daily habit, and the seventh institutional mechanism introduces a strengthened monitoring and evaluation system supported by digital tracking. The programme also upgrades its service delivery model from the existing T3 approach 'Test, Treat and Talk' to a T4 approach ‘Test, Treat, Talk and Track’.
The revised framework aims to strengthen haemoglobin testing, ensure treatment of iron deficiency anaemia in line with national protocols, improve follow-up and referral through systematic beneficiary tracking, and enhance counselling on nutrition and healthy dietary practices, it said.
For pregnant and lactating women suffering severe anaemia, or those who do not respond to oral iron therapy, the guidelines include intravenous iron therapy using Ferric Carboxymaltose (FCM) and Iron Sucrose as an important clinical intervention. The government also plans to establish an integrated digital ecosystem to monitor anaemia services across beneficiary groups. Under the new system, haemoglobin testing records for pregnant women will be mapped through the JANANI Portal, while records for children will be captured through the RBSK and U-WIN portals. These digital platforms will eventually converge into a unified AMB Abhiyaan Portal, enabling real-time monitoring, analysis and evidence-based planning, the ministry said.
The Health Ministry said the release of the operational guidelines during the CCHFW meeting reaffirms the government's commitment to strengthening maternal and child health and nutrition while accelerating progress towards reducing the burden of anaemia in the country.