Impact of National Health Mission on Women and Children : A Case Study of Rural Households in East Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh

National Health Mission(NHM) to provided effective health care to population in the country with special focus on states which have poor health outcomes and inadequate public health infrastructure and man power the primary focus of the mission is to improve access of the people, Specially women and children to equitable and affordable primary health care. The main goal of NHM is to reduce infant mortality rate (IMR) and maternal mortality ratio (MMR) by promoting newborn care, immunisation, ante-natal care, institutional delivery and post-partum care. The Mission aims to provide universal access to equitable, affordable, and quality health care that is accountable and at the same time responsive to the needs of the people. The Mission is expected to achieve the goals set under the National Health Policy and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The study brings out the focal point for improvement in the reproductive health status. Therefore, the hypothesis that 'access to safe drinking water as the most impacting factor on reproductive health of women and child care' has been accepted. Because in Rampachodavaram Division, 68.7% are using spring water. Undoubtedly, safe drinking water should be given top priority by the Government for improving reproductive health status. However, the other socio-economic variables namely poverty, income, education, family size are also important. The intermediary variables that explain the reproductive health status are access to reproductive health care, sex of the child, delivery serial number and the pre and post natal care among women. The analysis clearly brings out the fact that there exists wide disparity between the rural and tribal areas as far as the reproductive health status of women in East Godavari District is concerned. This needs a policy intervention by different levels of Government to improve the reproductive health status of women and child care practices in the tribal areas in general and with regard to specific health parameters in the rural areas in particular.