Focus on Child & Maternal Health
Shillong, July 16: With a view to improving overall maternal and child health, the state government has set a target of 90 per cent institutional deliveries.
Informing this after a review of the state’s health sector with Health Minister Wailadmiki Shylla, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said while the sector has made significant progress, the government’s aims to ensure that 90 per cent of all deliveries take place in health institutions.
During the review, the Chief Minister assessed the state’s performance under the Meghalaya Health Insurance Scheme (MHIS).
He also examined the encouraging gains reflected in the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-6), particularly the decline in maternal deaths attributed to a rise in institutional deliveries.
Sangma said initiatives such as the Chief Minister’s Safe Motherhood Scheme (CM-SMS), which provides transport support for expectant mothers, have played a key role in improving access to institutional deliveries.
The review also focused on strengthening maternal healthcare by improving first-trimester registration of pregnancies, ensuring timely iron and folic acid supplementation, and enhancing antenatal and postnatal care through ANMs, ASHA workers and Anganwadi workers.
To deepen community participation, the government discussed expanding the Community Caregiver Initiative with the support of Village Organisations and Self-Help Groups (SHGs).
Child nutrition was another key area of discussion, with emphasis on promoting exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months, improving nutrition for mothers and children, and encouraging healthy birth spacing.
The Chief Minister also stressed the need to intensify awareness and preventive measures against non-communicable diseases, including hypertension, through lifestyle interventions and community-based healthcare initiatives.
The review comes as the Meghalaya government continues to focus on improving key health indicators and strengthening last-mile healthcare delivery across the state.
