Partnerships for child health: capitalising on links between the sustainable development goals

Like the mid-day meal scheme for children, child health could also adopt the same path to receive health incentives from, say, international organizations.

Centrally sponsored, the programme included
• Universalisation of primary education by increasing enrollment, retention, attendance & impacting nutrition of students
• Central assistance in the form of free grain supply & transport at subsidised rates.

In 1990-91, seventeen State governments were implementing the programme for primary school children between the age of 6 aand 11 years with varying degrees of coverage. Twelve states--namely, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, and Uttar Pradesh--were implementing the mid-day meal programme from their own resources. In three state--namely, Karnataka, Orissa and West Bengal--the programme was implemented partially with assistance from CARE. As reported by Ministry of Human Resource and Development, thirteen States and five Union Territories were administering mid-day meal programme as of December 1994.

Central Government Ministry of Education, State Government Ministry of Education, Child welfare and health promotion could join hands together to frame a working strategy to derive the maximum benefits from international agencies involved in child health and sustainable development goals.