Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram

Adolescents

Adolescents (10-19 years) constitute about one-fifth of India's population. This represents a huge opportunity that can transform the social and economic fortunes of the country. The large and increasing relative share and absolute numbers of adolescent in India make it necessary that the nation ensures they become a vibrant, constructive force that can contribute to sustainable and inclusive growth. In order to enable adolescents fulfil their potential, substantial investments must be made in education, health, development and other areas. Investments in adolescents will have an immediate, direct and positive impact on India's health goals. The Strategy aims at instituting an effective, appropriate, acceptable and accessible service package, addressing a range of adolescent health and developmental needs.

7Cs and six strategic priorities

7Cs Six strategic
To implement this paradigm shift, the strategy identifies seven critical components (7Cs) that need to be ensured across all programme areas. These components are:

  1. Coverage
  2. Content
  3. Communities
  4. Clinics (health facilities)
  5. Counselling
  6. Communication
  7. Convergence
The six strategic priorities (programme) areas that have emerged from a situational analysis of adolescent health and development needs in India are:

  1. Nutrition
  2. Sexual and reproductive health (SRH)
  3. Non-communicable diseases (NCDs)
  4. Substance misuse
  5. Injuries and
  6. Violence (including gender- based violence) and mental health.

Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK)

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has launched a new adolescent health programme- Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram. The programme envisages strengthening of the health system for effective communication, capacity building and monitoring and evaluation. Further, RKSK underscores the need for several constituencies to converge effectively and harness their collective strength to respond to adolescent health and development needs. The different stakeholders, working on issues related to adolescent health and development, have a lot to gain by building on each other's work both in terms of achieving programme objectives as well as in the improved indicators for adolescent health and development.

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.

Objectives

The new AH strategy seeks to achieve the following objectives

  1. Improve nutrition

    • Reduce the prevalence of malnutrition among adolescent girls and boys (including overweight/obesity)
    • Reduce the prevalence of iron-deficiency anaemia (IDA) among adolescent girls and boys
  2. Enable 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 conditions for NCDs

    • Promote behaviour change in adolescents to prevent NCDs such as cancer, diabetes, cardio-vascular diseases and strokes The strategy is operationalised through six key components i.e. Communication (including Social and Behaviour Change Communication for improved health seeking behaviour); provision of commodities; provision of services; capacity building; monitoring & evaluation and programme management including supportive supervision.

Strategies

Strategies/interventions to achieve objectives can be broadly grouped as

  1. A. Community based interventions

    • Peer Education (PE)
    • Quarterly Adolescent Health Day (AHD)
    • Weekly Iron and Folic Acid Supplementation Programme (WIFS)
    • Menstrual Hygiene Scheme (MHS)
  1. B. Facility based interventions

    • Strengthening of Adolescent Friendly Health Clinics (AFHC)
  1. C. Convergence

    • within Health & Family Welfare - FP, MH (include 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)
  1. D. Social and Behaviour Change Communication with focus on Inter Personal Communication Each strategy/intervention typically addresses more than one objectives.

Adolescent Friendly Health Clinics (AFHCs)

AHFCs would provide a combination of commodities, IEC and curative services at PHC, CHC and DH levels plus outreach and referral services

  1. Commodities

    • Weekly Iron & Folic Acid Supplementation & Albendezole
    • Sanitary napkins
    • Contraceptives
    • Medicines
  2. Information (IEC & IPC)

    • Counselling on nutrition, menstrual disorders, personal hygiene, menstrual hygiene, use of sanitary napkins, use of contraceptives, sexual concerns, depression, sexual abuse, gender violence, substance misuse and promoting healthy behavior to prevent non communicable diseases
    • Posters/booklets/pamphlets, wall writing and visuals
  3. Curative Services

    • Treatment of severe malnutrition
    • Treatment of common RTI/STI problems
    • Treatment of menstrual disorders
    • Treatment for sexual concerns of males and female
    • Mental health service/management of depression
    • Treatment of non communicable diseases and other common ailments
    • Management of injuries related to accidents and violence
    • Management of sexual abuse among girls
    • Management of substance misuse
    • Treatment of non-communicable diseases like hypertension, stroke, cardio-vascular diseases and diabetes
  4. Adolescent Helpline: 18001801900

    Contact for any queries regarding RKSK

    • General Manager (RBSK/RKSK) SPMU-NHM, Uttar Pradesh,
    • Email ID: gmbsgy@gmail.com
    • Nodal Officer (RBSK/RKSK), Directorate Family Welfare, Uttar Pradesh,
      Email ID: jdtraining@rediffmail.com 
  5. Resource Materials under RKSK:

    Government Orders (GOs)

  6. Guidelines

  7. Guidelines (AFHC)

  8. Guidelines (NIPI-WIFS)

  9. Peer Education

  10. NDD September 2016

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