National Rural Health Mission

1 Initiatives
Some of the major initiatives under National Health
Mission (NHM) are as follows:

Accredited Social Health Activists

Community Health volunteers called Accredited Social

Health Activists (ASHAs) have been engaged under the
mission for establishing a link between the community
and the health system. ASHA is the first port of call for
any health related demands of deprived sections of the
population, especially women and children, who find it
difficult to access health services in rural areas. ASHA
Programme is expanding across States and has particu-
larly been successful in bringing people back to Public
Health System and has increased the utilization of outpa-
tient services, diagnostic facilities, institutional deliveries
The National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) is an ini- and inpatient care.
tiative undertaken by the government of India to address
the health needs of underserved rural areas. Founded in Rogi Kalyan Samiti (Patient Welfare Committee) /
April 2005 by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Hospital Management Society
the NRHM was initially tasked with addressing the health
needs of 18 states that had been identified as having weak
The Rogi Kalyan Samiti (Patient Welfare Committee) /
public health indicators.[1]
Hospital Management Society is a management structure
Under the NRHM, the Empowered Action Group (EAG) that acts as a group of trustees for the hospitals to man-
States as well as North Eastern States, Jammu and Kash- age the affairs of the hospital. Financial assistance is pro-
mir and Himachal Pradesh have been given special fo- vided to these Committees through untied fund to under-
cus. The thrust of the mission is on establishing a fully take activities for patient welfare.
functional, community owned, decentralized health de-
livery system with inter-sectoral convergence at all lev- Untied Grants to Sub-Centres
els, to ensure simultaneous action on a wide range of de-
terminants of health such as water, sanitation, education, Untied Grants to Sub-Centers have been used to fund
nutrition, social and gender equality. Institutional inte- grass-root improvements in health care. Some examples
gration within the fragmented health sector was expected include:
to provide a focus on outcomes, measured against Indian
Public Health Standards for all health facilities.
• Improved efficacy of ANMs in the field that can now
As per the 12th Plan document of the Planning Commis- undertake better antenatal care and other health care
sion, the flagship programme of NRHM will be strength- services.
ened under the umbrella of National Health Mission.
The focus on covering rural areas and rural population • Village Health Sanitation and Nutrition Committees
will continue along with up scaling of NRHM to include (VHSNC) have used untied grants to increase their
non-communicable diseases and expanding health cover- involvement in their local communities to address
age to urban areas. Accordingly, the Union Cabinet, in the needs of poor households and children.
May 2013, has approved the launch of National Urban
Health Mission (NUHM) as a sub-mission of an overarch- Health care contractors
ing National Health Mission (NHM), with National Rural
Health Mission (NRHM) being the other sub-mission of NRHM has provided health care contractors to under-
the National Health Mission. served areas, and has been involved in training to expand

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the skill set of doctors at strategically located facilities
identified by the states. Similarly, due importance is given
to capacity building of nursing staff and auxiliary work-
ers such as ANMs. NHM also supports co-location of
AYUSH services in Health facilities such as PHCs, CHCs
and District Hospitals.
Free Drugs and Free Diagnostic Service
A new initiative is launched under the National Health
Mission to provide Free Drugs Service and Free Diag-
nostic Service with a motive to lower the out of pocket
expenditure on health.

Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) District Hospital and Knowledge Center (DHKC)

JSY aims to reduce maternal mortality among pregnant
women by encouraging them to deliver in government
health facilities. Under the scheme cash assistance is
provided to eligible pregnant women for giving birth in
a government health facility. Large scale demand side
financing under the Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) has
brought poor households to public sector health facilities
on a scale never witnessed before.
As a new initiative District Hospitals are being strength-
ened to provide Multi-specialty health care including
dialysis care, intensive cardiac care, cancer treatment,
mental illness, emergency medical and trauma care etc.
These hospitals would act as the knowledge support for
clinical care in facilities below it through a tele-medicine
center located in the district headquarters and also devel-
oped as centers for training of paramedics and nurses.

National Mobile Medical Units (NMMUs) National Iron+ Initiative

Many un-served areas have been covered through Na- The National Iron+ Initiative is an attempt to look at Iron
tional Mobile Medical Units (NMMUs).
National Ambulance Services
Free ambulance services are provided in every nook and
corner of the country connected with a toll free number
and reaches within 30 minutes of the call.
Deficiency Anaemia in which beneficiaries will receive
iron and folic acid supplementation irrespective of their
Iron/Hb status. This initiative will bring together exist-
ing programmes (IFA supplementation for: pregnant and
lactating women and; children in the age group of 6–60
months) and introduce new age groups.

Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK)

2 References
[1] Nandan, D. (2010). “National rural health mission: Turn-
As part of recent initiatives and further moving in the di- ing into reality”. Indian Journal of Community Medicine
rection of universal healthcare, Janani Shishu Suraksha 35 (4): 453–454. doi:10.4103/0970-0218.74338. PMC
Karyakarm (JSSK) was introduced to provide free to and 3026119. PMID 21278861.
fro transport, free drugs, free diagnostic, free blood, free
diet to pregnant women who come for delivery in public
health institutions and sick infants up to one year. 3 External links
Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) • NHRM FAQ

A Child Health Screening and Early Intervention Services

has been launched in February 2013 to screen diseases
specific to childhood, developmental delays, disabilities,
birth defects and deficiencies. The initiative will cover
about 27 crore children between 0–18 years of age and
also provide free treatment including surgery for health
problems diagnosed under this initiative.

Mother and Child Health Wings (MCH Wings)

With a focus to reduce maternal and child mortality, ded-

icated Mother and Child Health Wings with 100/50/30
bed capacity have been sanctioned in high case load dis-
trict hospitals and CHCs which would create additional
beds for mothers and children.
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4 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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• National Rural Health Mission Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National%20Rural%20Health%20Mission?oldid=635895748 Con-
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