Major Central Health and Nutrition Schemes

India’s central health and nutrition schemes form the backbone of its public welfare architecture. Together, they aim to widen access to essential healthcare, reduce out-of-pocket spending, and improve outcomes for mothers, children, adolescents, and senior citizens.

Ayushman Bharat and Health Infrastructure

Ayushman Bharat is the core of India’s universal health coverage strategy. It combines health insurance support with a wider push to strengthen primary healthcare and public health infrastructure.

• AB-PMJAY coverage: The Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana provides health cover of ₹5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization.
• Senior citizen coverage: The scheme has been expanded to cover all senior citizens aged 70 and above, regardless of socio-economic status.
• Ayushman Vay Vandana card: Eligible senior citizens receive a distinct card and an additional top-up of ₹5 lakh per year.
• Ayushman Cards and AAMs: As of August 12, 2026, over 45.5 crore Ayushman Cards had been issued, and more than 1.86 lakh Ayushman Arogya Mandirs were functional across India.
• PM-ABHIM: The PM Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission is a centrally sponsored scheme for upgrading public health infrastructure in rural and urban areas.
• Financial outlay: PM-ABHIM has an outlay of ₹64,180 crore for FY 2021-22 to FY 2025-26.

Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0

Nutrition interventions focus on maternal and child welfare through integrated delivery at the grassroots level. Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 combines food supplementation, behaviour change, and monitoring systems.

• Integrated structure: The mission brings together the Supplementary Nutrition Programme, Poshan Abhiyaan, and the Scheme for Adolescent Girls.
• Budget allocation: The scheme received an allocation of ₹21,960 crore in the FY 2025-26 Budget.
• Saksham Anganwadi upgrade: The Ministry of Women and Child Development approved the upgradation of 2 lakh Anganwadi Centres into Saksham Anganwadis during the 15th Finance Commission cycle (FY22 to FY26).
• Infrastructure features: These centres are upgraded with better facilities, including clean drinking water.
• Progress achieved: As of March 25, 2026, 1,04,403 centres had been upgraded.
• Poshan Tracker: The digital monitoring platform maintains a live database of over 7.7 crore children and records an 99.88% Aadhaar-verification rate for beneficiaries.

PM-POSHAN and Maternity Support

School feeding and maternity assistance remain key tools for improving nutrition across early life stages. These schemes address both immediate food security and longer-term child health outcomes.

• PM-POSHAN: The Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman scheme provides one hot cooked meal daily to children from pre-primary (Balvatika) to Class 8 in government and government-aided schools.
• Extension: Its operational mandate has been extended from March 31, 2026 to September 30, 2026.
• PMMVY 2.0: Under the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana, a cash incentive of ₹5,000 is provided in two instalments for the first child.
• Second-child benefit: A cash incentive of ₹6,000 is provided in a single instalment for the second child, if the second child is a girl.
• DBT coverage: As of August 31, 2026, more than 5.19 crore beneficiaries had been enrolled under PMMVY, with ₹20,677 crore disbursed through DBT.

Anemia Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan

Micronutrient deficiency, especially anemia, continues to be a major public health concern. The upgraded approach under Anemia Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan introduces revised beneficiary groups, interventions, and clinical tracking.

• Guideline update: The program transitioned into the Anemia Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan under operational guidelines released on June 29, 2026, during the 16th Central Council of Health and Family Welfare meeting.
• 7×7×7 model: The strategy has moved from a 6×6×6 framework to a 7×7×7 model.
• New beneficiary group: Low Birth Weight (LBW) babies (0-6 months) have been added as the seventh beneficiary group.
• New intervention: “Eating Right” has been introduced as the seventh intervention.
• Clinical shift: Management has moved from the T3 model to the T4 approach: Test, Treat, Talk, Track.
• Severe anemia treatment: The updated guidelines recommend intravenous iron preparations, including Ferric Carboxymaltose and Iron Sucrose, for severe cases in pregnant and lactating women.

Key Prelims Takeaways

• Health budget: The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare received about ₹1 lakh crore in the Union Budget 2025-26.
• Out-of-pocket expenditure: National Health Accounts Estimates for 2022-23 show that out-of-pocket health expenditure fell to 43.4% of total health expenditure from 62.6% in 2014-15.
• AB-PMJAY cover: The core insurance benefit under AB-PMJAY is ₹5 lakh per family per year.
• Senior citizen benefit: The Ayushman Vay Vandana card gives senior citizens aged 70+ an income-independent annual top-up of ₹5 lakh.
• PMMVY condition: The ₹6,000 second-child benefit under PMMVY 2.0 applies only if the child is a girl.
• Poshan Tracker: It monitors over 7.7 crore children with an Aadhaar-verification rate of 99.88%.
• Anemia treatment: The updated anemia guidelines recommend Ferric Carboxymaltose and Iron Sucrose for severe cases in pregnant and lactating women.