Prevention of Anaemia through Screening and Promotion of Nutrition
Anaemia not only affects health during childhood but can also have long-term chronic effects that persist into adulthood. ITC’s initiative that aims to reduce anaemia in critical catchment areas is designed in a closed-loop approach of mobilising, screening, treating and linkages. ITC's support enables higher screening and helps in identifying hidden anaemia cases among women, adolescent girls and children at an early stage.
After screening, focus is given on establishing a strong linkage with the health department for iron and folic acid (IFA) supplementation and treatment of mild, moderate or severe anaemia cases. Awareness is also created among mothers to provide adequate nutrition to their children.
Maternal & Child Health and Nutrition
This programme aims to improve the health and nutrition of pregnant and lactating mothers, children up to 5 years, adolescent girls and eligible couples, by creating awareness and strengthening the government delivery system. The programme follows an intensive 1,000-day approach, demonstrating best practices through model anganwadis and focusing on nutrition with five groups of locally-grown foods.
ITC has implemented health and nutrition projects in collaboration with government agencies such as the Directorate of Social Welfare, Government of Assam, where it helped address malnutrition in 8 districts, including 7 aspirational districts. The Company has also entered into a partnership with the Child Development Services and Nutrition Department in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, to train anganwadi workers on early childhood care and education and nutrition in line with the government's focus on Padhai Bhi, Poshan Bhi.
ITC has now partnered with the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), Hyderabad to act as a technical knowledge agency and provide scientific inputs for its Health and Nutrition programme.
Impact
The joint efforts have reduced the proportion of underweight children in the direct intervention areas of Uttar Pradesh and Assam to below 10% from a baseline of over 30% in 2017-18.
Swasthya Choupal
This leverages the Company's e-Choupal ecosystem to provide credible and trustworthy health information, products and services in rural India. Rural women trained as Village Health Champions act as micro health entrepreneurs promoting behavioural change. They also earn a living by selling health-related products to the community.
Project Samposhan and Balposhan
ITC runs these two nutrition-specific programmes in select geographies. Project Samposhan, which is operational in Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka, focuses on anaemia prevention, management and awareness amongst adolescent girls, women and frontline workers. Project Balposhan is focused on improving the nutritional status of children under five years through millet-based interventions in Gujarat.
Promotion of Sanitation & Waste Management
Sanitation Programme
The pan-India programme focuses on creating a clean and hygienic environment by building awareness and impacting behavioural change on Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH), and forming community groups for maintenance of hygiene infrastructure. The construction of community and household toilets has resulted in the prevention of open defecation and reduction in waterborne diseases.
Waste Management Programme
The programme focuses on creating a clean and healthy environment by facilitating source-segregation and recycling of dry and wet waste, and management of liquid waste through community ownership. Operational in 42 districts in 11 states, ITC's decentralised waste management and WOW programmes instill behavioural change through door-to-door awareness campaigns to ensure the segregation of waste at source, thus reducing indiscriminate waste dumping.