National Health Mission

Health Secretary, Shri C K Mishra emphasised upon the need for innovative approaches to make the facilities at the peripheries work to avoid crowding of tertiary care facilities which impacts the quality of healthcare. He was chairing the National Review of the National Health Mission here recently.

The national review meeting was attended by State Health Secretaries and NHM Mission Directors from all States/UTs. Issues on the agenda included reduction of MMR, IMR, improving immunization and uptake of family planning measures in selected States /UTs, roll out of recent initiatives such as, strengthening sub Centres as Health and Wellness Centres, screening for NCDs, progress in TB elimination, status of preparedness for swine flu, addressing HR challenges, DBT payments, digital payments, rare diseases etc.

Under NHM, support to States/UTs is provided for five key programmatic components: (i) Health Systems Strengthening including infrastructure, human resource, drugs & equipment, ambulances, MMUs, ASHAs etc under National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) and National Urban Health Mission (NUHM); (ii) Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health Services (RMNCH + A); (iii) Communicable Disease Control Programmes; (iv) Non-Communicable Diseases Control Programme interventions upto District Hospital level; (v) Infrastructure Maintenance- to support salary of ANMs and LHVs etc.

Against the target of reducing IMR (infant mortality rate) to 25/1000 live births, IMR has reduced to 37 in 2015. Maternal mortality rate (MMR) is targeted at 100 per 1,00,000 live births. So far, MMR has reduced to 167 in 2011-13. The total fertility rate (TFR) is amed at 2.1 but it was reduced to 2.3 by 2014. Mortality from Tuberculosis should be reduced by half. In reality, mortality was reduced from 76/ lakh in 1990 to 32/ lakh in 2015.

Prevalence rate of Leprosy was reduced to less than 1/10000 population in 551 districts as on 31st March 2016. Annual Malaria Incidence is 0.67 in 2016, as against the target of less than 1 per 1000. It has been targeted to achieve less than 1 per cent microfilaria prevalence in all districts. 222 districts have reported Mf rate less than 1% as per reports of 2016. Out of 628 endemic blocks 492 (78%) have already achieved elimination till 2016. Kala-Azar Elimination was targeted by 2015, i.e., less than 1 case per 10000 population in all blocks.