Others

Morbidity and mortality from childhood illnesses have forever remained a major point of interest both globally and nationally. As per the National Family Health Survey (NFHS‑V), infant mortality rate and under‑5 mortality are 4.4 and 5.2 per 1000 live births, respectively in Kerala. Morbidity and mortality in children and adolescents can be prevented by exercising effective implementation of proven evidence‑based/facility‑based interventions with high coverage. As there is an advance in the reduction of child mortality, there is a dire need to improve survival outcomes and quality of life of the beneficiaries without any out‑of‑pocket expenditure (OOP). This would be achieved by early detection and management of conditions that were not addressed comprehensively in the past through interventions, beginning from the primary health care level to higher levels.

Arogyakiranam (AK) program is a state‑initiated entitlement scheme in Kerala for 0 to 18‑year olds (excluding dependents of government servants and income taxpayers), which provides free investigation and treatment for health conditions other than the 30 conditions covered under Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK).[6,7] This initiative is depictive of the State Government’s commitment in moving towards Universal Health Coverage for achieving sustainable development goals with an emphasis on equity. There is paucity of literature on the intricacies of its functioning, and an interim exploration into the operational mechanism of the scheme would help assess and enable further augmentation of the program.