During the ongoing 77th World Health Assembly, India hosted a side event on Women, Children and Adolescent Health in collaboration with Norway, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH). The purpose of the event was to share emerging evidence and discoveries, fostering dialogue on pivotal opportunities for investment in maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health and well-being. It aimed to advocate for continued and augmented investment, prompting policy adjustments and their ramifications across diverse stakeholders and sectors, while prioritizing the needs of various population groups.
The focus of the event was on adolescent health and various speakers spoke for various aspects of adolescent health including the need to invest more on this issue. Shri Apurva Chandra, Union Health Secretary and Head of the Indian delegation emphasized on the progress made on this topic and the initiatives taken in this regard.
He outlined India’s commitment to implement proactive actions for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ health and wellbeing. He highlighted India’s Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) – I, RCH – II initiatives and the Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram which stressed on adolescent health. The rolling out of TeleManas was also mentioned as a key initiative taken by India.
India also emphasized on the need for utilizing right communication strategies to convey to the adolescent audience group. The involvement of youth group representative was also discussed as important stakeholder for planning and implementation of any programme.
Ms. Hekali Zhimomi, Addl. Secretary, Union Health Ministry; Ms. Aradhana Patnaik, Addl. Secretary and Managing Director (NHM), Union Health Ministry and other senior officials of the Union Health Ministry were present on the occasion.