The deployment of State teams to each district for assessing health-related activities every month has been a major factor, National Health Mission officials say
The deployment of State teams to each district for assessing health-related activities every month has been a major factor, National Health Mission officials say
Monthly monitoring of health-related activities by special teams in each district has led to a dip in maternity and child mortality cases in Assam, officials in the State’s National Health Mission (NHM) said.
Data provided by NHM Assam said 289 maternal death cases were reported from April to September in the State this year compared to 389 during the same period in 2021, showing a decline of 25%.
Similarly, 3,523 children died during April-September this year compared to 3,842 over the same period in 2021. The decline in this case was by 8.3%.
“We undertook a slew of proactive measures, one of them being the deployment of State teams to each district, with the aim to improve the maternal and child health scenario,” NHM Assam’s Mission Director, M.S. Lakshmi Priya said after a review meeting recently.
“Each team stays and reviews the maternal and infant deaths and other health-related aspects of an assigned district for three days. This practice, in force for the last five months, has contributed to reducing the maternal and infant death rate in Assam,” she said.
The reduction in maternal and infant deaths has infused the belief among health officials that the State has the capability to do better if a targeted approach is taken and a roadmap for each block is formulated factoring in specific issues.
Some good practices developed by the first referral unit at Hajo, about 30 km northwest of Hajo, were also discussed for the possibility of upscaling it to the State level.
