Annual Health Survey under National Rural Health Mission for preparing District Health Profiles – Creation of an SAG Level post ( Project Director)

The National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) was launched by the Government of India in April 2005, with a view to bringing about dramatic improvement in the health system and the health status of the people, especially those who live in the rural areas of the country. The Mission seeks to provide universal access to equitable, affordable and quality health care which is accountable and at the same time responsive to the needs of the people. The NRHM also aims to achieve the goals set out under the National Health Policy and the Millennium Development Goals during the Mission period.

Accurate, relevant and up-to-date information is essential for the health service providers at all levels so that they can initiate action on the gaps in the system based on evidence and information. Recognising the need for an information base, one of the core strategies of NRHM is “Strengthening capacities for data collection, assessment and review for evidence based planning, monitoring and supervision”. As a step in this direction, the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, in collaboration with the Registrar General of India (RGI), Ministry of Home Affairs, is launching an Annual Health Survey in the erstwhile Empowered Action Group States ( Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattishgarh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa and Rajasthan) and Assam. This survey aims to provide feedback on the impact of the schemes under NRHM in reduction of Total Fertility Rate (TFR), Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) at the district level and the Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) at the regional level by estimating these rates on an annual basis for around 284 districts in these States. The field work for the survey would be undertaken by private agencies and supervised by the officers of the Registrar General of India, where several posts have been created to monitor the work of the field agencies. The field work for the survey would commence during 2009-10 and the first set of results is likely to start flowing during 2010-11. Based on the experience of this exercise, a decision will be taken on future expansion of the survey to other parts of the country.

****

AKT/HS/SH/LV