NAMSAI, Feb 10: The 9th District Task Force for Immunization (DTFI)-cum-4th Quarter Child Death Review (CDR) meeting, along with a review of other National Health Mission (NHM) activities, was held at the conference hall of the District Secretariat here on Tuesday.
During the Child Death Review, serious concerns were raised over premature deliveries and the related medical and social factors. The meeting stressed the need for timely preventive measures, early identification of high-risk pregnancies and stronger coordination among field-level functionaries to reduce child mortality.
Under the Sampoornata Abhiyan, key targets were reviewed, including weighing of all newborns at birth, conducting Village Health, Sanitation and Nutrition Day (VHSND) at all Anganwadi Centres every month, and ensuring notification of all tuberculosis patients. It was emphasized that VHSND activities should be conducted jointly by the Women and Child Development, Public Health Engineering and Health departments, with a single designated coordinator to ensure better convergence and effective implementation.
The meeting also reviewed the Newborn Anthropometry Solution (Shishu Maapan), an AI-enabled pilot project developed by Wadhwani AI, which involves data collection by ASHAs to analyse newborn and child health parameters. The project aims to replace manual physical measurements.
In addition, the Home-Based Newborn Care (HBNC) video monitoring initiative was reviewed. ASHAs have been trained and reoriented under the programme, and a total of 359 HBNC visits have been conducted so far.
A detailed review of vaccination coverage across medical facilities was undertaken. It was decided that village-level meetings followed by Block Level Task Force for Immunization (BTFI) reviews would be conducted at the block level, chaired by respective administrative officers, to strengthen implementation and monitoring.
The role of the Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI), on behalf of UNICEF, in addressing vaccination drop-outs through house-to-house visits was discussed. Monitoring reports presented by the National Public Health Support Network (WHO) were also reviewed.
It was noted that Namsai district is among the 12 districts selected for implementation of the Zero Dose Immunization (ZIP) Plan. Discussions focused on micro-planning, efficiency, SWOT analysis and block-wise findings.
The meeting further reviewed U-WIN performance, HMIS and digital vaccination records, as well as the Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) screening status and reporting on the NITI Aayog portal.
In his concluding remarks, Deputy Commissioner C R Khampa, Chairman DTFI, emphasized the need to address identified gaps, ensure effective inter-departmental coordination and conduct BTFI meetings regularly at the block level to improve overall performance.