Every pregnant woman in Haryana to get 'Saheli'

To combat the serious issue of female foeticide, the Health Department in Haryana is taking proactive steps to strictly enforce the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PC&PNDT) Act across the state.

The Additional Chief Secretary (Health) has constituted a state task force to regularly monitor the implementation of the Act.

The task force is actively conducting field visits, holding review meetings and taking strict action against violators. It has been decided that every pregnant woman will be assigned a dedicated caregiver called a “Saheli.”

The “Saheli” will be either an anganwadi worker (AWW) from the Women and Child Development (WCD) Department or an Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) from the National Health Mission (NHM). The “saheli” will provide continuous support and care to the pregnant woman starting from the first or second trimester until the safe delivery of the child.

In a joint meeting of the Health Department, NHM, and WCD Department, the Secretary, of Health to the Government of Haryana, directed that NHM would share data on pregnant women with the WCD Department. Based on this data, WCD would assign an AWW and NHM will assign an ASHA to each eligible pregnant woman.

The designated AWW or ASHA will function as the “Saheli” for that specific woman and act as her key point of contact for maternal care and emotional support.