RCH Programme
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Direct answer
Reproductive and Child Health, launched as a programme in 1997 and matured into the RMNCH+A (Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child plus Adolescent) strategy of 2013 under the National Health Mission, is the single largest continuum-of-care architecture in Indian public health. Its cash-and-services instruments are exam favourites — Janani Suraksha Yojana (2005) pays for institutional delivery, Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (2011) makes delivery and newborn care free, Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan guarantees specialist antenatal care on the 9th of every month, and Anemia Mukt Bharat (2018) attacks anaemia with its 6x6x6 strategy — all set against headline outcomes: MMR 97, IMR 28 and TFR about 2.0.
What you must remember
- RCH Phase I (1997-2005) integrated vertical maternal and child health services; Phase II (2005-10) aligned with the National Rural Health Mission; RMNCH+A (2013) added adolescents and articulated the continuum across life stages.
- JSY (2005): demand-side cash for institutional delivery — 1,400 rupees rural and 1,000 urban in high-focus states, 700 and 600 in others, plus an ASHA incentive.
- JSSK (2011): free delivery and caesarean, drugs, consumables, diagnostics, diet, blood and transport between home and facility; extended to sick infants up to one year.
- PMSMA (2016): assured specialist antenatal check-up on the 9th of every month, with private-sector volunteers.
- Anemia Mukt Bharat (2018): 6x6x6 — six beneficiary groups (children 6-59 months, schoolchildren, adolescents, pregnant and lactating women, women 20-49), six interventions (IFA supplementation, deworming, testing, behaviour change, platforms, monitoring) and six institutional mechanisms; pregnant women get IFA daily for 100 days, repeated post-partum.
- PMMVY (2017): 5,000 rupees in instalments to pregnant and lactating mothers for the first living child.
- Family planning: National Population Policy 2000 targeted TFR 2.1; Mission Parivar Vikas (2016) concentrated on 146 high-fertility districts; choices include postpartum IUCD, injectable DMPA ("Antara") and weekly ormeloxifene ("Chhaya").
- Current scorecard: MMR 97 per 100,000 live births (SRS 2018-20), IMR 28 per 1,000 (SRS 2020), TFR 2.0, institutional delivery about 89% and full immunisation about 76% (NFHS-5).
Walking the continuum: pregnancy to childhood
Register the pregnancy early at a village health and nutrition day. Antenatal care means at least four visits (the WHO now frames eight contacts), Td immunisation, the 100-day IFA course, screening for anaemia, hypertension, gestational diabetes, HIV and syphilis, and one PMSMA specialist visit on the 9th of a month. Delivery happens in an institution under JSSK's free-care umbrella with JSY cash credited afterwards; a skilled birth attendant and essential newborn care (delayed cord clamping, skin-to-skin warmth, colostrum, resuscitation if needed) govern the first hour. The newborn gets BCG, OPV-0 and hepatitis B at birth, exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months, immunisation at 6, 10 and 14 weeks and 9 months, and ASHA home visits checking feeding, weight and danger signs. At 6 weeks the mother returns for postpartum check-up and family planning — the postpartum IUCD window — and the child enters the ICDS cascade. Every scheme plugs into one station of this journey, which is why FMGE case-stems resolve by asking "where on the continuum is this patient?"
Schemes students mix up
JSY versus JSSK is the commonest collision: JSY gives cash to the mother (demand-side incentive), JSSK removes user charges (supply-side entitlement); one does not replace the other. PMSMA versus PMMVY is the second: the ninth-of-the-month specialist ANC versus the 5,000-rupee maternity benefit. Remember the 6x6x6 labelling of Anemia Mukt Bharat (2018), and keep the figures straight: MMR 97 (2018-20) and IMR 28 (2020) are the current SRS numbers examiners expect; options quoting 130 and 41 are obsolete. A final viva angle: RMNCH+A's "plus" is the adolescent — reproductive and sexual health services, menstrual hygiene and weekly IFA, where RCH meets the school health programme.
Frequently asked questions
How do JSY and JSSK differ?
JSY (2005) is a conditional cash transfer to promote institutional delivery among poor women, while JSSK (2011) guarantees entirely free services — delivery, caesarean, drugs, diagnostics, diet, blood and transport — for pregnant women and sick infants; cash incentive and free entitlements operate side by side.
What happens under PMSMA and on which date?
Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan assures every pregnant woman a comprehensive antenatal check-up by a specialist (medical officer or private physician) on the 9th of every month from the second or third trimester, free of cost.
What is the 6x6x6 strategy of Anemia Mukt Bharat?
Six beneficiary groups, six interventions (IFA supplementation and deworming being central) and six institutional mechanisms, launched in 2018 to reduce anaemia across the life course — pregnant women receive daily IFA for 100 days in pregnancy, repeated in the postpartum period.
What does PMMVY provide and to whom?
Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana provides a maternity benefit of 5,000 rupees in instalments for the first living child, linked to antenatal registration, institutional delivery and immunisation of the child, credited directly to the mother's bank account.
What are India's current maternal and infant mortality indicators?
Maternal mortality ratio 97 per 100,000 live births (SRS 2018-20), infant mortality rate 28 per 1,000 live births (SRS 2020) and total fertility rate about 2.0, with nearly 89% institutional births per NFHS-5.