Budget 2024: WHO applauds extension of healthcare coverage to ASHA, Anganwadi workers under Ayushman Bharat Scheme

The World Health Organization, or WHO, welcomed the Budget 2024 announcement of extension of healthcare coverage to ASHA, Anganwadi workers and helpers under Ayushman Bharat Scheme. “ASHA workers, Anganwadi workers, and helpers are at the forefront of health and care delivery at the grassroots level. The World Health Organization (WHO) applauds the extension of healthcare coverage to them under Ayushman Bharat," Dr Roderico H. Ofrin, WHO Representative to India, said. In Interim Budget 2024 speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the Government of India will extend health cover under the Ayushman Bharat scheme to all ASHA and Anganwadi workers and helpers. “The health cover under the Ayushman Bharat scheme will be extended to all ASHA and Anganwadi workers and helpers,” Sitharaman said. Also Read: Budget 2024: Health cover under Ayushman Bharat scheme will be extended to ASHA, Anganwadi workers, says FM Sitharaman WHO lauds Indian govt’s free vaccine for cervical cancer Ofrin further said the initiatives announced in Budget 2024 – upgrading existing hospital infrastructure to increase medical colleges, harmonisation of maternal and child care implementation, introduction of HPV vaccination for cervical cancer prevention, and the expansion of the U-WIN platform across for managing and intensifying immunisation – will further strengthen systems and healthcare services across the country." Also Read: Budget 2024: FM Sitharaman announces free vaccine for cervical cancer for girls between 9-14 years WHO will support Indian govt for meeting disease elimination goals The WHO Representative to India said the global health body welcomes investments in these areas and will continue to support the Government of India in achieving health for all and meeting its disease elimination goals. In August last year, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had praised India for taking steps in advancing Universal Health Coverage and the Ayushman Bharat scheme, which is the world’s largest health assurance initiative. Tedros, who was in India to participate in the inaugural ceremony of the G20 Health Ministers’ Meeting in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar, had said he visited a Health and Wellness Centre (HWC) in Gandhinagar and was left impressed by the primary healthcare services being provided to 1,000 households by the HWC. With inputs from agencies