Rashtriya Bal Swasthya KaryaKram (RBSK)

Child Health Screening and Early Intervention Services under National Health Mission

1. Introduction of Program : The program is specially design for the children of our country to protect and promote their health. Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) is a new initiative in this direction which seeks to put together a systematic approach to child health screening and early intervention. It is well-known that the early years of a child’s life are most critical for both survival and development and yet currently, there is no approach to screen structured children, identify health conditions warranting medical attention and ensure early intervention. There is an unacceptably high incidence of birth defects, deficiencies, diseases specific to childhood and developmental disorders including disabilities in India and it is high time we started to pay attention to their early detection and intervention. As per available estimates, 6% of children are born with birth defects, 10% children are affected with development delays leading to disabilities. This translates into more than 15 Lakh new-borns with birth defects annually. Further, 4% of under -ve mortality and 10% of neonatal mortality is attributed to birth defects. Needless to say, that dividends of early intervention would be huge including improvement of survival outcome, reduction of malnutrition prevalence, enhancement of cognitive development and educational attainment and overall improvement of quality of life of our citizens. Bringing down both out of pocket expenses on belated treatment of diseases / disabilities (many of which become highly debilitating and incurable) and avoidable pressure on health system on account of their management are among obvious benefits. Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram aims to roll out to over 27 Crore children from 0-18 years of age. Screening of the new-born, both at public health facilities and at home, is an important component of the strategy. Regular health screening of pre-school children up to 6 years of age using Aganwadis as a platform is another essential component. Moreover, children from 6 to 18 years of age studying in Government and Government aided schools would also receive regular health check-ups. All those children who may be diagnosed for any of the 30 illnesses would receive follow-up referral support and treatment including surgical interventions at tertiary level free of cost under this program.

2. Guidelines and Instructions (Click on the link to download)