Odisha on Wednesday launched AMLAN — Anaemia Mukta Lakhya Abhiyan — in the state. AMLAN is a multipronged approach for accelerated reduction of anaemia among targeted groups.

The programme will be rolled out in 55,000 government and government-aided schools and 74,000 Anganwadi Centres across the state.

The programme will be carried out by several departments, including Health and Family Welfare, School and Mass Education, Women and Child Development, Mission Shakti and ST & SC Development Department.

Launching the programme on a virtual platform, chief minister Naveen Patnaik said that it’s our own programme for making the state free from anaemia, especially for women and children.

“The programme will benefit about 1.37 crore people, which includes pregnant women, lactating mothers, women of reproductive age group, adolescents and children,” Naveen said.

He further said that the major interventions are strengthening iron and folic acid supplementation, testing for haemoglobin, treating anaemic cases, capacity building of service providers and social behaviour change communication.

“With intensive focus on public health schemes, Odisha has shown improvement in many health indicators like Immunisation, Infant Mortality Rate, Maternal Mortality Ratio, infant and young child feeding practices, and under-nutrition. However, anaemia remains a major public health challenge across the country,” he said.

Naveen also released the AMLAN Operational Guidelines.