New Delhi, July 11 (IANS). The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has launched a monthly webinar series on ‘Best Practices’ under the National Health Mission (NHM) with an aim to further strengthen the public health system and promote innovations in the health sector. The initiative, launched on the occasion of World Population Day 2026, aims to share successful health innovations among states and union territories and explore opportunities to implement them across the country.
According to the Health Ministry, this year-long knowledge-sharing platform will bring together states and union territories, where they can share their successful health programmes, locally developed solutions and their impacts. Its objective is to promote evidence-based approaches that can be replicated in other areas to improve the quality and accessibility of health services.
This first webinar was chaired by Aradhana Patnaik, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and NHM Mission Director. He said that innovation is the foundation of a fast, effective and strong public health system. He described this initiative as an important institutional vehicle for identifying, documenting and disseminating new ideas being developed in the States and Union Territories.
Patnaik said that sometimes state and district level teams are so busy implementing health programs that the best innovations made by them do not get wide recognition. To address this gap, the Ministry has taken steps to highlight such efforts and share them at the national level.
He urged States and Union Territories to share innovative ideas and local solutions that go beyond existing health programs to address emerging public health challenges. He informed that the National Health Systems Resource Center (NHSRC) will provide technical support in documentation and presentation of these innovations.
The first webinar focused on the topic ‘Anemia, Children and Adolescent Health’. It presented innovative health models from three states that have shown effective results in addressing health challenges at the local level.
In the webinar, Jharkhand presented ‘Anemia Mukt Bharat T4 App’ and ‘Integrated Home-Based Newborn Care (HBNC)-Home-Based Young Child Care (HBYC) Home Visit Initiative’. Chhattisgarh gave information about ‘Chirayu Divas’ model under National Child Health Program (RBSK). Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh shared its special initiative to tackle the problem of increasing obesity among adolescents.
The ministry said that these models reflect solutions tailored to local needs, which can be adopted in other states as well. These initiatives also demonstrated better coordination with national health programs and potential for large-scale implementation.
More than 500 officials from national, state and district level participated in this webinar. According to the ministry, this partnership reflects the authorities’ commitment towards developing a system based on mutual learning, collaboration and innovation in the health sector.
–IANS
SCH/DKP
