ICDS Full Form

What is the full form of ICDS?

The full form of ICDS is Integrated Child Development Services. The programme run by the Indian government that provides numerous referral services to kids who are at most six years old. These services are also made available to the mothers of these kids because they are so important to their growth. When children do not typically have access to resources such as education, nutrition, and health, ICDS programmes help them access these resources, knowledge, skills, and positive attitudes. The programme aims to improve child nutrition and immunisation and address gender inequality by giving girls the same resources as boys.

This Story also Contains

1. What is the full form of ICDS?
2. History of ICDS
3. Main objective of ICDS
4. How does ICDS function?
5. 4. Services provided by ICDS

History of ICDS

On October 2, 1975, ICDS was established due to rising morbidity, mortality, and malnutrition rates. It came after the National Policy for Children (NPC). The greatest community-based welfare programme in the world has developed out of it. The ICDS programme was also put on hold in 1978 by the government of Morarji Desai. Still, it was reintroduced by the tenth five-year plan to give all children access to primary education and lower childhood malnutrition rates. The tenth five-year plan also connected ICDS to Anganwadi centres, primarily established in rural regions and staffed by frontline workers.

Main objective of ICDS

The main objectives of ICDS are:

• Improving the health and nutritional status of children under the age of six.

• Conducting interventions to promote children's social, physical, and psychological development.

• Improving mothers' health and educating them on how to take care of their children's educational and nutritional needs.

• Lowering the mortality, disease, infant malnutrition, and school dropout rates.

How does ICDS function?

Every kid in the ICDS programme between the ages of 6 months to 6 years old receives 500 kilocalories (with 12 to 15 grams of protein) every day for nutritional purposes. Every month, 6 kg of food grain is distributed to adolescent girls between 10 and 19. The Public Health Infrastructure under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) provides all of the services offered by ICDS, such as appropriate health check-ups, immunisation facilities, and other referral services.

Since 1975, UNICEF has provided necessary supplies for the ICDS programme. The World Bank has also assisted the initiative with technical and financial support. The programme is sponsored centrally, with up to $1 (1.3 US) per day per child from the state governments.

Additionally, the government of India accepted the WHO criteria for evaluating and monitoring child growth and development in 2008 for both the ICDS and the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). Through a detailed investigation of six developing nations starting in 1997, WHO created these standards. They measure kids' physical growth, nutritional status, and motor skills from birth to age five and are referred to as the "New WHO Child Growth Standard."

4. Services provided by ICDS

The following services are made available by ICDS to help in achieving its objectives:

• Supplementary nutrition

• Immunisation

• Nutrition and Health Education

• Referral services

• Health checkup

• Pre-school education(Non-Formal)

• Contraceptive counselling for adolescents

The idea of offering a package of services is primarily motivated by the understanding that the overall impact will be significantly greater if the various services evolve in an integrated way, as the effectiveness of a given service depends on the support it receives from the associated services.

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