CRY calls for proactive civil society participation to support govt's taskforce on maternal health

"We also call for proactive and meaningful participation from the civil society coalitions and organisations to support the taskforce in establishing the correlation of child marriage and age of motherhood with health and nutritional status of the mother and the child," the NGO said in a statement.

Child rights NGO CRY has called for proactive and meaningful participation from civil society coalitions and organisations to support the government's taskforce to examine matters pertaining to age of motherhood, lowering maternal mortality rate and improvement of nutritional levels. The taskforce has been established to examine the correlation of age of marriage and motherhood with health, medical wellbeing and nutritional status of mother and child, during pregnancy, birth and thereafter, key parameters like infant mortality rate (IMR), maternal mortality rate (MMR), total fertility rate (TFR), sex ratio at birth (SRB), child sex ratio (CSR) and any other relevant points pertaining to health and nutrition in this context. Welcoming the formation of the taskforce, the Child Rights and You (CRY) said it is a forward-looking step which recognises that as India progresses further, more opportunities open up for girls to pursue higher education and careers. "We also call for proactive and meaningful participation from the civil society coalitions and organisations to support the taskforce in establishing the correlation of child marriage and age of motherhood with health and nutritional status of the mother and the child," the NGO said in a statement. It will also help all concerned stake holders to understand ground realities while adopting measures for promoting higher education among girls with suitable legislative instruments and/or amendments in existing legislations, the statement said. The 10-member taskforce will be headed under the chairmanship of Jaya Jaitly. It will suggest suitable legislations or amendments in the existing laws to support its recommendations; and also work out a detailed roll-out plan with timelines to implement these recommendations, the Women and Child Development Ministry (WCD) had said. The taskforce will submit its report by July 31, it said. PTI UZM SRY