Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK)

About RBSK

Launched in 2013 under the National Health Mission (NHM), RBSK is focused on preventing disease and disability in children.
Ministry: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
An estimated 25 crore children below the age of 18 will be screened for the two infectious diseases, and if a person is suspected to have either of the two, s/he will be sent to a higher centre for confirmation.
The existing Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) infrastructure will be used for the screening.

What is Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK)?

RBSK is focused on preventing disease and disability in children.
This initiative is aimed at screening children from 0 to 18 years for 4Ds – Defects at birth, Diseases, Deficiencies and Development Delays including Disabilities.
Children diagnosed with illnesses shall receive follow up including surgeries at tertiary level, free of cost under NHM.

Objective :

Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) is an innovative and ambitious initiative, which envisages Child Health Screening and Early Intervention Services, a systemic approach of early identification and link to care, support and treatment.

Key features of the scheme:

The RBSK programme corresponds to the Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child Health and Adolescent Health strategy (RMNCH+A), Incheon Strategy to “Make the Right Real” for Persons with Disabilities in Asia and the Pacific, and Child Survival and Development – A Call to Action summit held in Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu in 2013.
The scheme aims at early identification and early intervention for children from birth to 18 years to cover 4 D’s viz. Defects at birth, Deficiencies, Diseases, Development delays including disability.
The 0 – 6 years age group specifically managed at District Early Intervention Center ( DEIC ) level while for the 6 -18 years age group, managed at existing public health facilities.
The services aim to cover children of 0 -6 years of age in rural areas and urban slums in addition to children enrolled in classes I to XII in Government and Government aided Schools. It is expected that these services will reach about 27 crores children in a phased manner.

National Health Mission

In May 2013, the government had launched the National Urban Health Mission, which was later integrated into the National Rural Health Mission and a new National Health Mission was created from 2014-15.
Both NUHM and NRHM are now two of six components of NHM.

The six components of National Health Mission as follows:

The broad objectives of National Health Mission includes the following

Reduce MMR to 1/1000 live births
Reduce IMR to 25/1000 live births
Reduce TFR to 2.1
Prevention and reduction of anaemia in women aged 15–49 years
Prevent and reduce mortality & morbidity from communicable, non- communicable; injuries and emerging diseases
Reduce household out-of-pocket expenditure on total health care expenditure
Reduce annual incidence and mortality from Tuberculosis by half
Reduce prevalence of Leprosy to <1/10000 population and incidence to zero in all districts
Annual Malaria Incidence to be <1/1000
Less than 1 per cent microfilaria prevalence in all districts
Kala-azar Elimination by 2015, <1 case per 10000 population in all blocks