Aanganwadi

Anganwadi is a type of rural mother and child care centre in India. They were started by the Indian government in 1975 as part of the Integrated Child Development Services program to combat child hunger and malnutrition. Anganwadi means means "courtyard shelter" in Indian languages.

A typical Anganwadi centre provides basic health care in Indian villages. It is a part of the Indian public health care system. Basic health care activities include contraceptive counseling and supply, nutrition education and supplementation, as well as pre-school activities. The centres may be used as depots for oral rehydration salts, basic medicines and contraceptives.

As many as 13.3 lakh (a lakh is 100,000) Anganwadi and mini-Anganwadi centres (AWCs/mini-AWCs) are operational out of 13.7 lakh sanctioned AWCs/mini-AWCs, as of 31 January 2013. These centres provide supplementary nutrition, non-formal pre-school education, nutrition and health education, immunization, health check-up and referral services of which later three services are provided in convergence with public health systems.

The basic job of Anganwadi workers is extremely important and needs to be carried out in the most efficient manner possible. They need to provide care for newborn babies and ensure that all children below the age of 6 are immunized. They are expected to provide antenatal care for pregnant women and ensuring that they are immunized against tetanus. In addition to this they provide post-natal care to nursing mothers.

Since they primarily focus on poor and malnourished groups, they provide supplementary nutrition to children below the age of 6 and nursing and pregnant women. They ensure that regular health and medical check-ups for women 15- to 49-years-old take place and that all women and children have access to these check-ups. They work toward providing pre-school education to children who are between 3 and 5 years old.

The Ministry of Women and Child Development has laid down guidelines for the responsibilities of Anganwadi workers (AWW). These include showing community support and active participation in executing this programme, to conduct regular quick surveys of all families, organize pre-school activities, provide health and nutrition education to families especially pregnant women on how to breastfeed, etc., motivating families to adopt family planning, educating parents about child growth and development, assist in the implementation and execution of Kishori Shakti Yojana (KSY) to educate teenage girls and parents by organizing social awareness programmes etc., identify disabilities in children, and so on.

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