National Health Mission (NHM), Objectives and Achievements

Table of Contents

Context: Recently, an assessment report of the National Health Mission from 2021-2024, was presented to the Union Cabinet.

About National Health Mission (NHM)

It was launched in 2005 as the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM).
It was expanded in 2012 with the addition of the National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) under the unified NHM umbrella.
Objective: To improve healthcare delivery in rural and urban areas, particularly focusing on maternal and child health and communicable diseases.
Implementation: NHM provides financial and technical assistance to States/UTs for healthcare service delivery.

Expansion of Human Resources: FY 2021-22: 2.69 lakh workers, including 90,740 CHOs (community health officers).

Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR): Declined by 83% since 1990 (higher than the global decline of 45%).
Under-5 Mortality Rate (U5MR): Reduced from 45 (2014) to 32 (2020).
Infant Mortality Rate (IMR): Decreased from 39 (2014) to 28 (2020).
Total Fertility Rate (TFR): Dropped from 2.3 (2015) to 2.0 (2020).

Tuberculosis (TB): Incidence reduced from 237 per 1,00,000 population (2015) to 195 (2023). The mortality rate decreased from 28 to 22 (2015-2023).
Malaria: Cases and deaths declined by 13.28% and 3.22%, respectively, in 2021 compared to 2020.
Sickle Cell Anemia: Screened over 61 crore individuals under the National Sickle Cell Anemia Elimination Mission launched in 2023.
Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan: Supported by 56 lakh Ni-kshay Mitra volunteers, benefiting 9.4 lakh TB patients.