Improving Access, Service Delivery and Efficiency of the Public Health System in Rural India

Abstract

This book presents the findings of a project to evaluate the functioning of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) which was put together at the request of the Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India to an International Advisory Panel (IAP) for the NRHM. The IAP was constituted to provide broad policy advice to the Ministry of Health on how best to achieve the key objectives of the NRHM. The principal activity under this project was to conduct a systematic evaluation of the performance of the NRHM in selected states of India relying on a mix of inputs: extensive data sets already collected by the Ministry of Health since the launch of the NRHM; new survey data which was collected; empirical analysis of the primary and secondary data; detailed interviews of health functionaries at the village, block and the district levels; documentation of key innovations, challenges and successes that have arisen in particular regions, and inputs from some of the members of the IAP, such as our experts on core reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health issues, nutrition, chronic diseases, and malaria among others. The project was undertaken in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) at Ahmedabad. It was decided to focus on three of NRHM‘s high-focus states, i.e. Madhya Pradesh (henceforth MP), Rajasthan (henceforth RJ) and Uttar Pradesh (henceforth UP).