What is the full form of ICDS

ICDS: Integrated Child Development Services

ICDS stands for Integrated Child Development Services. It is a popular flagship program of the Govt. of India for all-round development of children. It aims to provide food, preschool education, basic healthcare like immunization, health check-up, and referral services to children under the age of 6 and their mothers.

It is an integrated package of services for the holistic development of the child. This program was introduced in 1975, but discontinued in 1978 and then re-introduced by the Tenth Five Year Plan. The beneficiaries of this program include children in the age group of 0 to 6, pregnant women and lactating mothers.

Objectives of ICDS:

• To improve the nutritional and health status of children below the age of 6
• To conduct programs for the physical, social, and psychological development of children
• To reduce the rate of mortality, illness, child malnutrition and school dropout
• To improve the health of the mothers and make them capable of looking after the health and nutritional needs of their children through proper nutrition and health education

Services under ICDS:

The ICDS scheme offers the following services:

• Basic Nutrition
• Pre-school educational
• Nutrition and health education
• Immunization
• Health check-up
• Referral services

These services are available at local ICDS centre called Anganwadi, run by Anganwadi workers, the community-based women which are paid for their work. These women are assisted by medical officers, Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANM), and Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) to provide immunization, ante-natal, and post-natal care. However, the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) monitors the ICDS scheme.