One of the main goals of the National Health Mission is to lower infant and maternal mortality rates while improving care for expectant mothers and young children across India. To help women control their fertility and guarantee safe pregnancy and childbirth, the Reproductive and Child Health Programme (RCH) was introduced in the nation in 1997. According to the recommendations made at the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development, the plan was launched.
Introduction
India currently has a rare opportunity to enhance the nutritional and physical conditions of its citizens. Because of its economic growth, the nation is now able to devote more resources to its social programmes. The likelihood of improved and equal health and nutrition is currently greater than it has ever been thanks to recognition of the relevance of these factors for national development.
Every nation should place a high priority on reproductive health, as well as child nutrition and health because India has the worst rate of maternal, newborn, and child fatalities in the world. 1 million newborns and 1/8 million children under the age of 5 died in 2008, and 68 000 moms also passed away.2 Additionally, India has 52 percent of all children worldwide that are underweight million stunted kids (under the age of five).3 Progress in child health, nutrition, and reproductive health has lagged behind certain other Asian nations that attained independence about the same time as India (webappendix, p. 7). India still has a ways to go before achieving its stated objectives (table 1).3–6 We assess the current state of child health, nutrition, and reproductive health in India, pinpoint programmatic and policy shortcomings, and offer recommendations for the future. We omit certain equally significant and connected topics, such as child development and micronutrient deficiencies, in order to keep the focus on the primary themes.
Programme for Reproductive Child Health
Listed below are the program’s goals for reproductive and child health.
1. Enhance the effectiveness, calibre, and reach of the family wellness services
2. Decreased newborn mortality and morbidity
enhancing adolescent health, decreasing maternal mortality, and reducing morbidity
5. Prevention of sexually transmitted diseases and infections of the reproductive system
6. Population stability achieved through ethical reproduction
7. Ensure the survival of children and mothers.
Programme for Reproductive Child Health Concept
1. Controlling and avoiding unintended pregnancies
Children’s survival
3. AIDS and HIV prevention
4. RTIS/STD management and prevention
Components of reproductive child health
1. Programme for safe motherhood and child survival
2. Managing and preventing HIV/AIDS and RTI/STDs
3. Family preparation
4. Offering guidance and information on gender differences, sexuality, and health
5. Services for teenagers’ nutrition, education, growth tracking, and reproductive health.
Child and Reproductive Health Portal
The government has created a dedicated site to identify and monitor specific beneficiaries over the course of a woman’s reproductive life and to promote, monitor, and support the reporting and delivery of maternal, reproductive, new-born, and child health information.
Several of the portal’s crucial features include:
- It aids the government in decision-making and keeping track of how health programmes are being implemented throughout the nation.
- Â Employees may simply schedule deliveries and identify beneficiaries who require prenatal, postnatal, and immunisation care.
- Â Finding high-risk expectant mothers
- Aids in planning the delivery of immunisation services to children by health professionals
- Improving the nation’s delivery of healthcare services
What Does RCH Stand For?
Child and Reproductive Health
Reproductive and Child Health is known as RCH. The programme, which was started in October 1997, intends to battle and lower the rates of maternal, newborn, and child mortality. There was a set of goals that were intended to be accomplished during the program’s first phase, and they are as follows:
- to improve policy administration and oversight by implementing a participative design strategy and allowing organisations to make the best use of project resources.
- to improve the current family wellness services’ quality, reach, and effectiveness.
- to finally broaden the scope and coverage of services related to family welfare in order to deliver a specific package of essential RCH support.
- Progressively broaden the scope and focus of current family welfare (FW) wellness services to include more elements.
- To strengthen the infrastructure of the FW services and to increase the quality, preference should be given to outlying areas of cities or districts.
- The results of this RCH stage were both successful and unsuccessful to some extent. The RCH is currently in its RCH-II stage. Its objectives are as follows:
- It intends to extend aid and services to the entire family welfare sector, even going outside the purview of RCH.
- It has carefully monitored the state’s actions and holds it accountable for the program’s overall progress as a result of its participation.
- It has implemented the decentralisation policy in order to deliver better services.
- It enables states to control and improve different aspects of the schemes as it sees fit.
- To ensure better programme implementation, it frequently updates the supervision and evaluation procedures at many levels, including the central level, the state level, and the district level.
- By rewarding and praising strong performers and encouraging weak performers through assistance, it gives financing based on performance.
- encourages collaboration and convergence across the industry to make the most use possible of available resources and infrastructure.
- brings together financial support received from other sources.
- In addition to this plan, there is an urgent need to undertake more of these related training sessions to address a number of important issues that vaccinations alone were unable to address.
- other important factors. Before expanding, a variety of methods and strategies are being used to assess the demands. Additionally, more family planning services are required in order to reach the goal of 2 children on average per family.
Portal for reproductive and paediatric health
Reducing infant and maternal mortality rates as well as ensuring that pregnant women and children receive high-quality care nationwide are among the National Health Mission’s (NHM) main priorities. Making decisions based on evidence requires the information to be captured in an integrated reporting system.
To collect data on all RCH-related services, such as family planning, maternal health, child health, and immunisation, the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India developed an innovative name-based system, known as the Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) portal.
An application called Reproductive & Child Health (RCH), which has been described as “an enhanced version of MCTS,” was created to track each beneficiary throughout the reproductive process lifecycle. The application makes it easier to give complete prenatal, postnatal, and delivery services on time. It also tracks kids for full immunisation services.
RCH portal complies with RMNCH programme standards by offering family planning services, thorough ANCs, and notifications to ANMs, beneficiaries, and health managers.
A decade’s worth of study has revealed that taking simple, manageable steps can considerably lower the health risks that pregnant women experience. If women had access to competent medical care during their pregnancies, deliveries, and soon following, the majority of maternal deaths could be avoided.
India’s Reproductive and Child Health Survey Programme;
The nation-wide Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) Programme was launched on October 15, 1997. With the help of this project, it was hoped that women would be able to manage their fertility, give birth safely, and have pregnancies that resulted in their own survival and the survival and well-being of their unborn children. Additionally, couples will be permitted to interact without concern for contracting STDs. To reduce the rate of infant, child, and mother death as a whole. On April 1, 2005, RCH – II, the program’s second phase, was launched. The main goal of the research was to change the rates of total fertility, infant mortality, and maternal mortality, which are three crucial physiological indicators to reach the Millennium Development Goals at a reasonable rate.
Programme goals for reproductive and child health
The following list includes RCH’s key goals.
- to lower IMR and MMR as a means of improving women’s and children’s health and ensuring safe maternity and child survival.
- The ultimate objective is population stability, which can be attained by responsible sexual behaviour.
- Utilising a participatory design approach that enables enterprises to make the greatest use of project resources, to enhance policy administration and supervision.
- To enhance the current Family Wellness Services’ efficacy, coverage, and quality.
- to gradually expand the range and coverage of services connected to family welfare in order to offer a full range of RCH assistance in urban or district areas that are rural.
- Expand the scope and depth of current family welfare (FW) wellness programmes to make room for additional elements.Preference should be given to in order to strengthen the infrastructure and quality of FW services.
Intervention and RCH actions
Given that we now know what RCH is and what it stands for, let’s examine the key ideas that the RCH programme introduced:
- Prevention and management of unintended pregnancies
- Â care for mothers (safe motherhood)Â
- child protectionÂ
- STD management and prevention
- Â Prevention of HIV/AIDS
The following are some of the actions or services offered under the RCH Programme.
Family planning: As part of this programme, citizens receive expert counselling as well as health-related information and communication services. Additionally, the course covers growth requirements and growth monitoring. Teenagers can also use services for reproductive health.
As part of this project, the fundamental care required for a newborn’s health is taught. It also includes information on nutritional needs and infection control strategies.
RCH steps and intervention
Let’s examine the following key ideas that were taught in the RCH programme now that we understand what RCH is and what RCH stands for.
- Preventing and managing unwanted pregnancies
- Â (Safe motherhood) Maternal careÂ
- infant survivalÂ
- Management and prevention of STDs
- Â preventing HIV and AIDS
- The safe motherhood programme, which falls under this programme, offers obstetric care and infection control services. Fertility control and the prevention of unintended pregnancies are offered.
- One of the goals of the reproductive and child health programme is to prevent and treat RTI, STDs, and AIDS.