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National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) - Benefits & Objectives

Team AckoJan 17, 2024

According to the 2011 Census, more than 37.7 crore people live in urban areas in India, accounting for over 31.16% of the country's total population. This is putting a strain on the healthcare system in these parts, making healthcare more expensive.

Overall, increasing costs make it difficult for low-income groups to access necessary medical services, which can cause severe health issues. The National Urban Health Mission aims to solve these problems. Read on to know more.

Contents

What is the National Urban Health Mission (NUHM)?
Roles and objectives of NUHM
- Roles of NUHM
- Objectives of NUHM
Benefits of National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) Scheme
Important features of National Urban Health Mission Scheme
Eligibility for National Urban Health Mission Scheme
Frequently asked questions

What is the National Urban Health Mission (NUHM)?

The National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) is one of the healthcare schemes of the Indian government launched in 2005. The primary purpose of this scheme is to provide better and more affordable healthcare services to the economically backward people residing in urban households at an affordable price. This scheme comes under the National Health Mission. Here are some factors that drive the NUHM.

1. Expensive healthcare costs

In the past few decades, there has been a significant increase in the technologies and scientific advancements in the nursing and healthcare sectors. As a result, The costs of health care services have drastically increased. Therefore, NUHM was introduced by the Indian government to meet the primary healthcare needs of the poor urban population.

2. Population explosion

Since 1941, India has witnessed significant growth in urban population. According to a United Nations (UN) report, India's urban population will reach 675 million soon, maybe by 2035. Considering the current urbanisation rate, 46% of the Indian population will be in urban areas by the end of 2030.

3. Poor health of children

According to a recent survey, 46% of urban children are underweight. Immunity problems in children are also increasing day by day. So the government took a step forward and decided to help the urban population meet their healthcare needs.

Roles and objectives of NUHM

The National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) mainly focuses on improving the urban population's healthcare needs. The focus is on the poor and less advantaged people of society. This scheme aims to provide them with fair access to quality healthcare services through a well-designed public health system. This involves the involvement of the local government bodies as well. The NUHM specialises in meeting the healthcare needs of people living in listed and unlisted slums.

Roles of NUHM

Here are the roles of the National Urban Health Mission India.

Working towards reduction in infant death rate in the urban areas
Decreasing the maternal death rate in the urban areas
Universal access to healthcare in urban areas
Achieving the objectives of Disease Control Programmes

Objectives of NUHM

The NUHM programme seeks to address cost and general health concerns for urban residents, especially those who are in need. It can, however, be a tedious and exhaustive process. The following are a few of NUHM's short-term goals. Here are the objectives of the National Urban Health Mission India

Creating urban healthcare systems tailored to each city's unique demands that can meet the many healthcare requirements of the people in need.
Creating institutional processes and management systems to meet the health-related concerns of an urban population.
Collaborating with the public and native organisations for more proactive involvement in health activity planning, execution, and monitoring.
Providing access to resources for delivering basic primary health care to the people.
Collaboration with non-governmental organisations (NGOs), nonprofit and for-profit health care providers, or other stakeholders.

Benefits of National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) Scheme

Following are the benefits of the National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) Scheme.

The NUHM provides affordable and cost-effective healthcare services to the people who may have less access to quality healthcare facilities.
This scheme focuses on social determinants, including sanitation and clean drinking water to help improve the health of people.
The NUHM creates awareness among people and educates them to visit government health centres for regular health check-ups. This helps in keeping track of the current health status of patients. Additionally, a disease can be detected at its onset leading to better treatment options and a higher success rate.
The community groups affiliated to the NUMH inform the population about the services, availability of beds, health care procedures, etc., at the nearest medical facilities.
All the procedures and structures are formulated according to the urban people's specific requirements under the scheme.

Important features of National Urban Health Mission Scheme

The primary purpose of the NUHM Scheme is to provide the best healthcare services to the urban poor. This scheme focuses on providing affordable, essential, primary healthcare services to people living in urban areas.

1. Tie-up with hospitals

NUHM seeks partnerships with private healthcare service providers and private hospitals. Through active collaboration with private network providers, this scheme aims to achieve the quality of health care for urban people.

2. Urban Slum Health Action (USHA) community workers’ involvement

Under this scheme, all the slums and communities have USHA community workers. USHA workers work toward delivering the specified services at people's doorsteps. A USHA worker stays in a slum and looks after about 250-500 households, having around 1000-2500 people.

3. Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM) availability

NUHM appoints about four to five ANMs in each primary healthcare centre. They are liable for conducting sessions and educating the people. The sessions are about taking care of one’s health, availing doctor consultations, free check-ups, and more.

4. Focus on quality healthcare

Primary laboratory diagnosis, outpatient department (OPD) medical counselling, health education and counselling for communicable and non-communicable diseases, drug dispensing, and other services are available.

5. Urban Community Health Centre (U-CHC)

These come as satellite hospitals that supply various in-patient services.

Eligibility for National Urban Health Mission Scheme

While India's metropolitan populations and areas are the primary focus of this scheme, it benefits the slum dwellers (both listed and unregistered). The National Urban Health Mission covers certain occupations eligible for benefits, including ragpickers, rickshaw pullers, bricklayers, lime kiln workers, sex workers, etc. This programme also recognises homeless persons, street children, and transient migrants in metropolitan areas. It includes all localities with a population of more than 50,000.

Contact address : Please visit the official Contact Us page of the National Health Mission website to contact the concerned person.

Frequently asked questions

Here are some common questions about the National Urban Health Mission.

When did India's National Urban Health Mission launch?

The National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) was launched by the Union Cabinet on May 1, 2013, to deliver quality healthcare services to the urban population, with a special emphasis on low-income groups.

Does the central government fund the National Health Mission (NHM)?

The central government partially funds the National Health Mission in conjunction with the state government and Union Territories (UT). Most States and UTs, together with the Central Government, share NHM funds 60:40 with the Legislature (Delhi & Puducherry). The sharing ratio for the North-Eastern States, including Sikkim, and Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Sikkim is 90:10.

Which state leads in the implementation of the National Health Mission?

The NITI Aayog's 2019–20 health index has Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra at the top. While Uttar Pradesh, which ranks last on the index, has the lowest performance. The other four last-place lagging states are Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Bihar.

Source

Disclaimer: The content on this page is generic and shared only for informational and explanatory purposes. It is based on industry experience and several secondary sources on the internet, and is subject to changes.