Samagra Shishu Bal Swasthya Karyakram
What’s in the news?
- In a significant step towards strengthening newborn and child healthcare services across the country, the Minister of Health and Family Welfare has launched the Samagra Shishu Bal Swasthya Karyakram (SSBSK), a unified national programme that provides a seamless continuum of home and community-based care for every child from birth to 36 months of age.
- The programme integrates the existing Home-Based Newborn Care (HBNC) and Home-Based Care for Young Child (HBYC) programmes into a single comprehensive framework.
- Recognising the critical importance of the first 28 days for newborn survival and the first three years for optimal brain development, the initiative integrates home-based newborn care, risk-based screening, maternal mental health support, digital child tracking and continuous monitoring.
- A key feature of SSBSK is the introduction of a risk-stratified approach for newborns and young children identified as ‘At-risk’ due to conditions such as low birth weight, prematurity, delayed initiation of breastfeeding, discharge from newborn care units, malnutrition, recurrent illness or developmental delays.
- These children will receive intensified follow-up through additional home visits by Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs), Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANMs), Community Health Officers (CHOs) and Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) tailored to their level of risk.