The Panchayats and Rural Development Department, Government of West Bengal launched the “Community Health Care Management Initiative” (CHCMI) to usher in a convergence of services at the community level. The focus of this novel intervention is the process of promoting community involvement in health care management through awareness generation programme and capacity building exercises, while ensuring delivery of services at the community level.

                “Community’s health in Community’s Hands” being the motto of the programme, the planned intervention seeks to drive home a sense of responsibility among common people towards their own health care management under the leadership of Panchayati Raj Institutions. CHCMI seeks to converge community action at the grass root level to the cause of promoting good health and preventing sickness in the community. Very simply, it seeks to motivate, enlighten, enthuse and involve individuals and institutions to community action for achieving good health and well being of the community.

                 Over the years, it has been the common experience that it is very difficult for the rural health care service terminals of the State Government, viz. Health Sub-Centre (per 5000 population) and ICDS Anganwadi Centres (per 1000 population) to reach out their respective clientele, even with the best possible intention and diligence, on account of the sheer number of population and also on account of the strong cultural barriers in the rural society. Preventive and promotive health care can be improved only by enabling the community to take charge of its own needs, on one hand, and to utilize the health care services, available at the govt. service terminals, in a better way, on the other. This requires a huge community mobilization, which could only be organised by the Panchayat Raj Institutions. As such, tasks relating to public health care should be devolved upon the Panchayats, which is also the mandate of the Constitution.

             Improvement of public health also requires improvement of all the proximate factors, like female literacy, safe water and sanitation facilities, drainage etc. that require involvement of the Panchayats. The Panchayats also provides with civic services, like registration of birth and deaths. Therefore, it is more logical that the Panchayats are entrusted with the overall responsibility of proper delivery of preventive and promotive health care system.

            Health Care Management has three distinctive features i.e. Promotive, Preventive and Curative. Active involvement of the communities is required especially with regard to the first two aspects. Community Health Care Management Initiative therefore, seeks to achieve the following objectives:

  To develop appropriate attitude and knowledge of all concerned Govt.
functionaries, PRI functionaries, self help groups and functionaries of related institutions in order for them to act as change agents to facilitate the process leading to “community's health in community's hands”.

  To institutionalize the system of public health monitoring by the Panchayats.

  To sensitize communities on the issues of public health with particular reference disease prevalence, mortality and morbidity pattern, order of birth, nutrition, safe drinking water, sanitation and personal hygiene, immunization, nutritional status, care for adolescent, pregnant and lactating mothers etc.

  To build capacity of the communities to plan, implement and manage health care interventions by developing among them a strong sense of ownership of the system.

  To work out plans at the different levels for improving outreach, particularly in unserved and under-served areas through regular monitoring and facilitation so as to improve access of the communities to basic health services.