New Delhi: Bihar`s health system has been lauded for its effective child healthcare model that is now being taken up as global best-practice, the annual state of the world`s mothers report said here Tuesday.
The annual flagship report by `Save the Children` has singled out an initiative in Bihar as a global best-practice. The report also rates India as the fourth worst place for mother care among 80 `less developed countries`.
"Bihar, one of the poorest in the country, is at the forefront of the battle against vitamin A deficiency, which afflicts up to 62 percent of pre-school age children in rural India," the report launched here said.
In 2009, Bihar`s vitamin A supplementation programme reached 13.4 million children under 5, protecting 95 percent of children in this age group against the devastating consequences of vitamin A deficiency.
This high coverage came at a time when the national coverage across India was estimated at only 34 percent, the report pointed.
"Over 11,000 health centres and 80,000 `anganwadis` (child development centres) serve as core distribution sites for vitamin A supplements in the state. In addition, more than 3,400 temporary sites were organized to deliver vitamin A within small, isolated communities," the report noted.
IANS
