The Adolescent Girls' Anaemia Control Programme: a decade of programming experience to break the inter-generational cycle of malnutrition in India.
OBJECTIVE
To document the scale-up of India’s Adolescent Girls’ Anaemia Control Programme following a knowledge-centred framework for scaling up nutrition interventions and to identify the critical elements of and lessons learned from a decade of programme experience for the control of anaemia in adolescent girls.


METHODS
We reviewed all articles, programme and project reports, and baseline and endline assessments published between 1995 and 2012 regarding the control of anaemia through intermittent iron and folic acid supplementation; key programme specialists and managers were interviewed to complete or verify information wherever needed.


METHODS
India.


METHODS
Adolescent girls.


RESULTS
The scale-up of India’s Adolescent Girls’ Anaemia Control Programme followed a knowledge-centred programme cycle comprising five phases: Evidence, Innovation, Evaluation, Replication and Universalization. By the end of 2011, the programme was being rolled out in thirteen states and was reaching 27.6 million adolescent girls of whom 16.3 million were school-going girls and 11.3 million were out-of-school girls. Building on the critical elements of and lessons learned from the programme, the Government of India launched in 2012 the national Weekly Iron and Folic Acid Supplementation (WIFS) programme to universalize the benefits of anaemia control to the overall population of Indian adolescents.


CONCLUSIONS
The Adolescent Girls’ Anaemia Control Programme in India provides a good example of how a knowledge-centred approach can successfully guide the scaling up of public health nutrition interventions and facilitate intersectoral convergence among different government departments and development partners to break the inter-generational cycle of undernutrition and deprivation.
Child Nutrition and Development Programme, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), 73 Lodi State, New Delhi, India. vaguayo@unicef.org
Víctor M
VM
Aguayo
Kajali
K
Paintal
Gayatri
G
Singh
D000293:Adolescent; D000740:Anemia / Q000517:prevention & control*; D018798:Anemia, Iron-Deficiency / Q000517:prevention & control; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D005260:Female; D005492:Folic Acid / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D007501:Iron / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000090463:Iron Deficiencies; D019266:Iron, Dietary / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D044342:Malnutrition / Q000517:prevention & control*; D018977:Micronutrients / Q000627:therapeutic use; D009752:Nutritional Status; D011634:Public Health / Q000379:methods*
D019266:Iron, Dietary; D018977:Micronutrients; D005492:Folic Acid; D007501:Iron