NEWS: Partnership Between National Health Authority (NHA) and National Institute of Health & Family Welfare (NIHFW) to Create Sustainable and Robust Institutions of Capacity Building under AB PM-JAY
New Delhi, Friday, 24th March 2023 – GIZ India’s Indo-German Programme on Universal Health Coverage (IGUHC) catalysed and facilitated the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between National Health Authority (NHA) and National Institute of Health & Family Welfare (NIHFW). The partnership intends to utilize the expertise and resources of NIHFW for organizing national level Training of Trainers (ToT) programme by NHA for State Health Agencies (SHA) and other stakeholders who will further conduct capacity building sessions for District Implementation Units (DIUs) and hospitals through NIHFW.
NHA is the apex body responsible for implementing India’s flagship public health insurance/assurance scheme, Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) and Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM). Being a pan-India programme, with the volume of the population served and the complexity of both schemes, it is difficult for NHA to guide and support the states and DIUs. Standardization is another aspect that has to be addressed in capacity building.
NHA is the apex body responsible for implementing India’s flagship public health insurance/assurance scheme, Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) and Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM). Being a pan-India programme, with the volume of the population served and the complexity of both schemes, it is difficult for NHA to guide and support the states and DIUs. Standardization is another aspect that has to be addressed in capacity building.
Capacity building had been and continues to be a key area where IGUHC extends its technical assistance to NHA. Additionally, IGUHC has extended their support in the development of capacity-building-related guidelines, institutional strengthening exercises, knowledge management processes, frameworks for learning materials, conduct training programmes, etc. Even though standard processes are defined, and knowledge transfer is ensured, it was felt that new strategic partnerships needed to be identified and built to ensure the sustainability of technical assistance provided by IGUHC to NHA.
The NIHFW, an autonomous organization under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Government of India, acts as an ‘apex technical institute’ as well as a ‘think tank’ for the promotion of health and family welfare programmes in the country. The Institute addresses a wide range of issues on health and family welfare from a variety of perspectives through its multi-disciplinary departments. Health Economics & Financing, Training Technology in Health etc are some of its thrust areas and Human Resources for Health is one of its areas of concern.
The NIHFW, an autonomous organization under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Government of India, acts as an ‘apex technical institute’ as well as a ‘think tank’ for the promotion of health and family welfare programmes in the country. The Institute addresses a wide range of issues on health and family welfare from a variety of perspectives through its multi-disciplinary departments. Health Economics & Financing, Training Technology in Health etc are some of its thrust areas and Human Resources for Health is one of its areas of concern.
GIZ has played a crucial role of catalyst and facilitator in strengthening the bond between NIHFW and NHA through alignment of objectives for both agencies. The aim is to create sustainable and robust institutions which augment and sustain the product and process knowledge of AB PM-JAY stakeholders, thereby enabling them to perform their roles and responsibilities.