Pregnant women's health should be family's joint responsibility: Irani

Mumbai: Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani on Monday said pregnant women's health should be a joint responsibility of the family.

Speaking at Poshan Jagrukta Abhiyaan (nutrition awareness campaign) programmes organised by the Union Ministry for Women and Child Development and Union Ministry for Minority Affairs for women from minority communities, she also stressed the importance of good nutrition.

Discussions on maternal health are no longer confined to women. Nowadays, men are also thinking about women's health. Pregnant women's health should be a joint responsibility of the family, she said.

During the day-long programme, Irani and Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi interacted with members of Muslim, Buddhist, Jain, Sikh, Christian and Parsi communities. Irani said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has turned women's issues into a social issue.

If we want to be able to tell the world that not a single child in India suffers from malnutrition, then it is important for members from all communities to come forward, Irani said.

Naqvi said health and hygiene, ignored earlier, are the mainstay of a result-oriented priority programme by the Modi-led government.

The Central government has worked on a war-footing to provide affordable and quality health services to the country, Naqvi said.

The National Digital Health Mission was launched on August 15 last year to provide a health ID to every Indian, he said. Over 2.11 crore people were provided free medical treatment under the Jan Arogya Yojana, he said, adding 15 new AIIMS were approved since 2014.

Over 8,000 Jan Aushadhi Kendras across the country are giving medicines at affordable prices to the poor, the BJP leader said. About four crore children were vaccinated against various diseases under Mission Indradhanush,

he added.