Patna, May 9: State Health Society, Bihar (SHSB) entered into an agreement with Population Foundation of India — a Delhi-based NGO — to initiate community planning and monitoring programme (CBMP) in the health sector, as a first such initiative in the state.

To start with, the programme is being launched in three districts — Darbhanga, Nawada and Bhagalpur — of the state, officials said.

After signing the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the NGO, SHSB editorial director Sanjay Kumar said community ownership and participation in management has been seen as a pre-requisite in the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). “In an attempt to win the confidence of the people and to ensure all their health-related issues are addressed with their active participation, CBMP is being launched here. In Bihar, our effort is to ensure that responsive and quality health services, based on local needs, reach the poor and also vulnerable sections of society,” Kumar said.

He said 16 blocks of Darbhanga in the three districts have been selected for the pilot project. “The programme is being launched in 180 villages. Within the next year, two more districts, Gaya and Jehanabad, will also be covered and eventually, we plan to scale up the programme to all the 38 districts of the state,” he said.

“Our aim is to place community members, community based organisations, NGOs and panchayat representatives at the centrestage and then allow them to actively participate in planning and monitoring the progress of NRHM activities in their geographical areas,” Kumar said. BSHS has given a grant of Rs 1.26 crore from NRHM funds to Population Foundation of India to be the nodal-cum-technical agency for implementing the programme in Phase-I.

Poonam Muttreja, executive director, of the population foundation, highlighted the experiences of the NGO in implementing community monitoring in nine states. She said in Maharashtra and Karnataka, community monitoring over three rounds had shown marked improvement not just in the status of health services at the village-level but also in the utilisation of services at the primary health centres.

As part of the programme, CBPM committees will be formed at different levels under the guidance of the nodal agency and a grievance redressal mechanism will be put in place to resolve the grievances raised at different levels in consultation with the development partners and other government line departments.