India revamps anaemia strategy: New guidelines target newborns, digital tracking
The Union Health Ministry is set to release revised operational guidelines for the Anaemia Mukt Bharat (AMB) Abhiyaan on Monday, June 29, 2026. The updated framework broadens the national programme's approach by adding a new beneficiary group, emphasising dietary interventions, and introducing digital tracking of beneficiaries.
The guidelines will be unveiled by Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda during the 16th meeting of the Central Council of Health and Family Welfare at Vigyan Bhawan. The revised framework marks the transition from 'Anaemia Mukt Bharat' to 'Anaemia Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan', aiming to strengthen anaemia control through improved testing, treatment, monitoring, and community participation.
The existing 6x6x6 strategy has been expanded into a 7x7x7 framework. The key change is the addition of low birth weight babies (0-6 months) as a seventh beneficiary group, recognising the need for early intervention against anaemia. A new 'eating right' component has been introduced as the seventh intervention to promote regular consumption of iron-rich and diversified diets. The seventh institutional mechanism focuses on strengthening monitoring and evaluation through digital tracking.
The guidelines also replace the existing T3 approach — Test, Treat, and Talk — with a T4 strategy: Test, Treat, Talk, and Track. The revised approach emphasises routine haemoglobin testing, treatment according to national anaemia management protocols, systematic tracking of beneficiaries for referral and follow-up, and counselling on healthy dietary practices.
For pregnant and lactating women with severe anaemia or those who do not respond to oral iron therapy, the guidelines recommend intravenous iron therapy using Ferric Carboxymaltose and Iron Sucrose.
The Ministry has proposed an integrated digital ecosystem for monitoring anaemia services. Haemoglobin testing records for pregnant women will be captured through the JANANI Portal, while data on children will be recorded through the RBSK and U-WIN portals. These platforms will subsequently converge into a unified AMB Abhiyaan Portal to facilitate monitoring, analysis, and programme planning.
'The revised operational guidelines are aimed at strengthening the country's anaemia control programme by combining iron supplementation with improved diagnosis, therapeutic management, nutrition interventions and digital monitoring,' said a release issued by the Ministry on Sunday, June 28, 2026.
Despite years of sustained interventions, anaemia remains a major public health challenge in India. According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) conducted by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, 67.1% of children aged six to 59 months, 57% of women aged 15 to 49 years, 52.2% of pregnant women, and 59.1% of adolescent girls aged 15 to 19 years are anaemic.
Anaemia impairs physical growth, cognitive development, learning ability, work productivity, and maternal health, while increasing the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes.
The Health Ministry has maintained that the burden of anaemia is not only due to iron deficiency but also to deficiencies of folate and vitamin B12, infections, worm infestations, inherited blood disorders, and poor dietary diversity, underscoring the need for a comprehensive life-cycle approach to prevention and treatment.
