New Delhi [India], June 8 (ANI): The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare will launch nationwide celebrations from Tuesday to commemorate '10 Years of PMSMA - A Decade of Care', marking a decade of the successful implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA), one of India's flagship initiatives aimed at ensuring safe pregnancy and healthy motherhood.

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the inaugural ceremony will be presided over by Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Jagat Prakash Nadda.

As part of the celebrations, awareness and outreach activities will be organised across States and Union Territories to encourage pregnant women and their families to avail the nine assured free services available under PMSMA and promote the importance of timely and quality antenatal care.

Furthermore, a special 75 Commemorative Coin and a 5 Postal Stamp will be released by Union Minister Nadda to honour a decade of the Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan's contribution towards advancing safe motherhood and strengthening maternal healthcare services across the country.

Launched on June 9, 2016, by Prime Minister Modi, the scheme has spent a decade transforming the landscape of maternal and neonatal healthcare by providing free, comprehensive, and quality Antenatal Care (ANC) services to pregnant women on the 9th of every month.

Marking a decade of excellence (2016-26), PMSMA is a vital pillar of the Government of India's Continuum of Care approach under the Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCH+A) Strategy, dedicated to transforming the quality, coverage, diagnostics, and counselling services of Antenatal Care (ANC), thus impacting crores of families and significantly reducing the country's maternal mortality ratio (MMR).

The programme follows a systematic approach to engagement with the private sector, which includes motivating private practitioners to volunteer for the campaign, helping develop strategies for spreading awareness, and participating in the Abhiyan at government health facilities.

The PMSMA aligns with the broader goals of the Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health plus Nutrition (RMNCAH+N) strategy under the National Health Mission (NHM).

The main objectives of the scheme include ensuring that every pregnant woman receives at least one check-up by a physician/specialist during the second or third trimester, improve the quality of care during antenatal visits, identifying and managing high-risk pregnancies (HRP) at an early stage, appropriate birth planning and complication readiness for each pregnant woman, ensuring appropriate management of women with malnutrition and a special focus on adolescent and early pregnancies. (ANI)