The Comprehensive Mother and Child Health Programme, an important initiative to improve the health and well-being of mothers and children across the country, was launched in the capital today. The programme by the Ministry of Health aligns with the national priority and will address both the medical and social causes, which affect a mother and child’s health.
The Comprehensive Mother and Child Health Programme is the Thousand Golden Days initiative, wherein a mother and a child’s health and well-being are looked after from the day a child is conceived until the baby attains two years of age.
According to the Ministry of Health, the challenges facing mothers’ and children’s health and well-being in the country are regional disparities, low utilisation of healthcare services especially in remote areas among women with lower education levels, and lower socio-economic status.
Further, the Human Capital Index 2022 states that despite the deaths among infants and young children in the country declining, a child born in Bhutan today will only be 48 per cent productive compared to children who received complete education and full health care.
The Comprehensive Mother and Child Health Programme will improve access to and utilisation of quality mother and child health services, invest in human capital, and empower women financially.
The programme also includes the conditional cash transfer component, where eligible women will receive cash to access and utilise key mother and child health interventions and services.
Cash will be electronically transferred to eligible pregnant and lactating women. Women belonging to the bottom of the well-being distribution are considered eligible.
Pregnant and lactating women who receive the cash should do regular health checkups, do institutional delivery, monitor the child’s growth, and ensure that children are taken for immunisation on time.
The policy to accelerate mother and child health outcomes was introduced by the Cabinet in 2020.
Sonam Yuden
Edited by Sherub Dorji
