NEW DELHI, Aug 13: In a bid to raise awareness about adopting family planning methods, the Odisha government for the first time in the country has decided to provide ‘wedding kits’ to newly married couples from September.
Officials said the wedding kits would contain contraceptive pills, condoms, a booklet on methods and benefits of family planning, and the marriage registration certificate among other items, they said.
“This is a part of the National Health Mission’s (NHM) ‘Nai Pahal Scheme’. The objective is to create awareness among newly married couples to adopt family planning,” Director of Family Planning Bijay Panigrahy said. The initiative will begin from the district and block levels, he said.
“We will launch it for the first time in the country,” said Shalini Pandit, State Mission Director of NHM. Panigrahy said accredited social health activists (ASHAs) will visit households where marriages are scheduled and distribute the kits. “The couples will also be informed about healthy spacing between child births,” he added.
(Manas Dasgupta)
