NEW DELHI: The Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry has decided to go in for a concurrent assessment of its ambitious National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) through independent agencies.

The Ministry has tied up with the Institute of Public Auditors of India to assess the impact of the Mission, launched in April 2005. The Institute has done a similar assessment for the Government's Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and several other social sector initiatives. It will submit its report within three months.

The Institute will carry out the survey in five States - Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Tamil Nadu - picking up one district from each state. While Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand are considered among the low performing states, Tamil Nadu has reportedly done well in the implementation of the Mission. The idea behind including Tamil Nadu for the survey is to learn from its experience, according to reliable sources in the Ministry.

Another concurrent assessment will be carried out by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) but this is confined to the functioning of the Accredited Social Health Activists an indispensable component of the NRHM and Janani Suraksha Yojana. The Ministry commissioned the services of the UNFPA to carry out the assessment in U.P., Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand following criticism that two years into the Mission, recruitment of ASHAs was far from satisfactory and questions were raised on their role.

To submit its report within two months, the UNFPA will assess adherence with the guidelines in the selection of ASHAs, quality of their training, study the role of Panchayati Raj institutions, NGOs and SHGs in extending support to the Mission, gauge satisfaction of ASH

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