India’s Maternal and Child Health Scenario: Evidence from ICDS

Abstract

The ICDS programme launched by the central government tries to address the problems of maternal and child mortality, morbidity and malnourishment by assisting with development of children and mothers especially from rural and backward areas leading to human capital development and benefiting the economy as a whole. The present paper attempts: a) To present an overview of maternal and child health status in India b) To study the utilisation of ICDS services in India. The study is based on secondary sources of data collected from NFHS 3 and NFHS 4. The results show betterment in the selected maternal and child health indicators for the period under study. The trends in coverage of ICDS services show a positive shift yet there is room for improvement and transformation.