The National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) was launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister on 12th April 2005, to provide accessible, affordable and accountable quality health services to the poorest households in the remotest rural regions. The detailed Framework for Implementation that facilitated a large range of interventions under NRHM was approved by the Union Cabinet in July 2006

(two years ago). Under the NRHM, the difficult areas with unsatisfactory health indicators were classified as special focus States to ensure greatest attention where needed. The thrust of the Mission was on establishing a fully functional, community owned, decentralized health delivery system with inter sectoral convergence at all levels, to ensure simultaneous action on a wide range of determinants

of health like water, sanitation, education, nutrition, social and gender equality. Institutional integration within the fragmented health sector was expected to provide a focus on outcomes, measured against Indian Public Health Standards for all health facilities. From narrowly defined schemes, the NRHM was shifting the focus to a functional health system at all levels, from the village to the district.