National Rural Health Mission

The National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) was launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister on 12th April 2005, to provide accessible, affordable and quality health care to the rural population, especially the vulnerable groups. The Union Cabinet vide its decision dated 1st May 2013, has approved the launch of National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) as a Sub-mission of an over-arching National Health Mission (NHM), with National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) being the other Sub-mission of National Health Mission.

NRHM seeks to provide equitable, affordable, and quality health care to the rural population, especially the vulnerable groups. Under the NRHM, the Empowered Action Group (EAG) States, as well as the North Eastern States, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, have been given special focus. The thrust of the mission is on establishing a fully functional, community-owned, decentralized health delivery system with inter-sectoral convergence at all levels, to ensure simultaneous action on a wide range of determinants of health such as water, sanitation, education, nutrition, social and gender equality. Institutional integration within the fragmented health sector was expected to provide a focus on outcomes, measured against Indian Public Health Standards for all health facilities.

Key Achievements of NHM

• NHM Engaged over 12 Lakh Additional Healthcare Workers between FY 2021-24
• 220 Crore Covid-19 vaccine doses administered nationwide under NHM
• MMR declined by 83% since 1990, which is higher than the global decline of 45%
• India demonstrated a higher decline of 75% in the reduction of Under 5 Mortality Rate in comparison to the global reduction of 60% since 1990
• TB incidence reduced from 237 per 1,00,000 population in 2015 to 195 in 2023; TB mortality rate decreased from 28 to 22 in the same period
• 1.56 lakh Ni-kshay Mitra volunteers are supporting over 9.4 lakh TB patients under the Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan
• Ayushman Arogya Mandir Centers reach 1.72 Lakh mark by FY 2023-24
• National Sickle Cell Anemia Elimination Mission screens over 2.61 Crore Individuals
• India achieves 97.98% Coverage in Measles-Rubella Vaccination Campaign
• Malaria Control Efforts Leads to Decreased Mortality and Cases
• Kala Azar Elimination targets successfully met
• U-WIN Pilot Launched to Track Vaccination Events Across India
• Pradhan Mantri National Dialysis Programme has benefited over 4.53 lakh dialysis patients in FY 2023-24