New Delhi: India`s flagship National Rural
Health Mission (NRHM) has made remarkable progress in
strengthening the healthcare delivery system, the government
said in its annual report.
In his foreword in the `Government of the UPA: Report to
the People`, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said there has been
a "substantial increase in in-patient and out-patient cases in
the public health system, and there is encouraging evidence of
increased institutional deliveries."
The government said nearly 103 lakh deliveries were
covered under the Janani Suraksha Yojana -- a centrally
sponsored scheme aimed at reducing maternal and infant
mortality rates and increasing institutional deliveries in
below poverty line (BPL) families.
The JSY, which was launched in 2003, covers all pregnant
women belonging to households below the poverty line, above 19
years of age and up to two live births.
According to the report, infant mortality rate has
dropped to 50 per thousand live births, while 264 high-focus
districts have been identified.
During 2010-11, 53,745 additional Village Health and
Sanitation Committees were set up taking their number to
4,73,777.
Over 7,957 facility-based Rogi Kalyan Samitis were
formed. Over 47,886 Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs)
were selected and trained, taking their number to eight lakhs.
Further, the total strength of health personnel,
including doctors and paramedics, went up to nearly 1.39
lakhs by December, 2010, the report claimed.
There has been a reduction in the mortality due to
malaria, kala-azar and dengue, as well as reduction in the
incidence of filarial infection.
The prevalence rate and death rate due to tuberculosis
declined significantly in 2010, and the country is on track
towards reaching the tuberculosis related Millennium
Development Goal by the year 2015, said the report.
"All disease control programmes have also shown
substantial improvement," Singh said, adding, "Progress in
AIDS control and care is also encouraging, with the annual new
HIV infections in India having declined by more than 50 per
cent in the last decade."
As of March 2011, prevention of HIV among high risk
groups, through targeted intervention, which is the main
strategy under the National AIDS Control Programme Phase-III,
has been scaled up over the years to 1,447 projects, the
report added.
PTI
