RMNCAH+N stands for Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, Adolescent Health and Nutrition. Enhancing maternal and child health outcomes and ensuring their survival are fundamental to attaining the national health objectives outlined in the National Health Mission (NHM). Sustainable Development Goal 3 similarly emphasizes the importance of diminishing maternal, newborn, and child mortality rates.
The RMNCAH+N strategy is founded on the continuum of care principle and is comprehensive in its scope, covering all initiatives directed towards reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, adolescent health, and nutrition within a broad framework. It emphasizes a strategic lifecycle approach, ensuring attention to every stage of development. In this article, we will discuss the objectives, benefits, and more about RMNCAH+N.
RMNCAH+N strategy: A brief overview
The RMNCAH+N strategy advocates for the integration of various interventions across thematic areas to extend coverage across the entire lifespan, aiming to enhance child survival rates in India. The "plus" aspect of the strategy includes:
- Recognising adolescence as a distinct phase within the comprehensive strategy.
- Connecting maternal and child health with reproductive health and other elements such as family planning, adolescent health, HIV, gender considerations, and preconception and prenatal diagnostic methods.
- Establishing links between home and community-based services and facility-based services.
- Ensuring seamless connections, referrals, and counter-referrals among different tiers of the healthcare system to establish a continuous care pathway and to amplify overall outcomes and impact synergistically.
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Key features of RMNCAH+N strategy
The approaches within the RMNCAH+N strategy encompass:
- Strengthening health systems (HSS) with a focus on enhancing infrastructure, human resources, supply chain management, and measures for referral transport.
- Prioritizing high-impact interventions tailored to different stages of the lifecycle.
- Enhancing the efficiency of investments by prioritizing geographical areas based on evidence.
- Implementing integrated monitoring and accountability mechanisms through effective governance, utilization of available datasets, community engagement, and procedures to address grievances.
- Fostering extensive collaboration and partnerships with ministries, departments, development partners, civil society, and various stakeholders.
The RMNCAH+N strategy establishes a robust framework for delivering services across the entire continuum of care, spanning from community-based to different tiers of the healthcare system.
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