Strong primary health care systems are associated with better access to health care and population health. Long before the 1978 Alma-Ata declaration, health system planners in India envisioned a publicly funded and administered primary health care system to provide affordable primary health care to all. The establishment of a primary health care system as a core component of India’s public health system was one of the primary recommendations of the Health Survey and Development Committee (popularly known as the Bhore Committee), chaired by Sir Joseph Bhore.
IPSI is based on the philosophy that strong primary health care systems are foundational for achieving universal health coverage. India has a long-standing commitment to comprehensive primary health care. The National Health Mission, and the government’s new flagship health program, Ayushman Bharat (particularly the Health and Wellness Center-HWC component), represent important efforts to strengthen state primary health care systems. The high dual burden of non-communicable and communicable diseases, population aging, rapid urbanization, and rising health expenditures, have made it even more critical to strengthen primary health care systems. Furthermore, the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak has highlighted the important role of primary health care services and strategies for containing infectious disease epidemics.
The IPSI approach
IPSI seeks to support the important Government initiatives by strengthening select states and districts to deliver Comprehensive Primary Health Care.
IPSI supports Government programs in primary health care, principally, the Ayushman Bharat-Health and Wellness Center (Ayushman Arogya Mandir) program. It does this by focusing on the following three “pillars”:
- Measure: Develop and deploy a state and district-level performance measurement index for assessing primary health care performance, which integrates the primary health care approach and components of the HWC operational guidelines issued by MoHFW.
- Demonstrate: In one district in each of five selected states (Gujarat, Odisha, Meghalaya, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar) demonstrate health system innovations for improving primary health care performance and coverage of the 12 packages of services at HWCs.
- Recognize: Reward district performance improvement efforts towards HWC implementation and primary health care outcomes.
Note: Under the Ayushman Bharat scheme, all Sub-health Centres (SHC) have been upgraded to Health and Wellness Centres (HWC). In 2023, the HWCs were rebranded as Ayushman Arogya Mandir (AAM). https://www.thehindu.com/news…/article67576634.ece