National Health Programmes Questions and Answers

Answer: C

The correct statements are 1, 3, 4, 5.

In 2020 the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme was renamed the National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme, in line with India's aim to end TB by 2025, five years ahead of the global SDG target (statement 1). The National Strategic Plan 2017-2025 set targets of an 80% reduction in TB incidence and a 90% reduction in TB mortality (statements 3 and 5), and private sector engagement is one of its key pillars (statement 4).

Statement 2 is wrong: the E stands for Elimination, not Eradication. Eradication means the permanent global removal of an agent, as with smallpox. Every option that includes statement 2 is therefore wrong.

Answer: C

The initiative is for Leprosy.

Leprosy damages peripheral nerves, so many patients lose sensation in the soles. Unnoticed injuries then turn into ulcers and deformities. Under the National Leprosy Eradication Programme, patients with insensitive feet are given microcellular rubber (MCR) footwear, which is soft and cushioning and spreads pressure, as part of disability prevention and medical rehabilitation.

Polio causes paralysis but sensation is preserved. Accident victims and epilepsy are not conditions in which insensitive feet are the problem addressed by this programme.

Answer: B

The programme is ARSH, Adolescent Reproductive and Sexual Health.

ARSH, part of the RCH-II programme and later of the Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK), provides adolescent-friendly health clinics with counselling on sexual and reproductive health, menstrual hygiene, contraception, sexually transmitted infections and nutrition.

The National Mental Health Programme deals with mental illness. JSSK (Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram) gives free delivery and newborn care in public facilities. Ayushman Bharat covers health and wellness centres and hospital insurance, not specifically sexual and reproductive health counselling.

Answer: D

The plan is for 2017-2024.

The National Strategic Plan for HIV/AIDS and STI 2017-24, titled 'Paving the Way for an AIDS-Free India', was released by the National AIDS Control Organisation. It set the goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030, with the 90-90-90 targets for testing, treatment and viral suppression.

2012-2017 was the period of the fourth phase of the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP-IV), and the other ranges do not match any national plan, so 2015-2022, 2012-2019 and 2016-2023 are wrong.

Answer: C

The rules came into effect from 1st April, 2016.

The Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Packaging and Labelling) Amendment Rules, notified on 24 September 2015, required pictorial health warnings to cover 85% of the principal display area on both sides of tobacco packs, up from 40% on one side. They took effect on 1 April 2016.

1 December 2015, 1 January 2016 and 31 March 2016 are not the date set by the notification. 1 April 2016 is also remembered because the industry contested the larger warnings when they came into force.

Answer: A

The true statement is HIV infected women can transmit HIV to her foetus or infant before, during or after birth.

Mother-to-child transmission of HIV can occur in pregnancy (across the placenta), during labour and delivery (exposure to blood and secretions), and after birth through breastfeeding. This is why the prevention of parent-to-child transmission programme gives antiretroviral therapy to the mother and prophylaxis to the baby.

Without intervention the risk of transmission is about 15 to 45%, not 90%, so the fourth statement is false. A sizeable share of infections also happens through breastfeeding, so it is wrong to say 90% occur in utero or at birth. The statement about prevalence in pregnant women is a surveillance figure that varies by district and is not a statement about how HIV is transmitted.

Answer: D

The techniques are 1, 3, 4, 5.

Under the National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme, TB is diagnosed by sputum smear microscopy with Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN) staining, by culture, by chest X-ray as a screening and supportive tool, and by rapid molecular tests such as CBNAAT (GeneXpert) and Truenat, which also detect rifampicin resistance.

Serological (antigen-antibody) tests are not used: the Government of India banned them for TB diagnosis in 2012 because they are inaccurate. So every option including 2 is wrong.

Answer: C

The programme is LaQSHAY, the Labour Room Quality Improvement Initiative.

LaQshya was launched by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in 2017 to improve the quality of care in labour rooms and maternity operation theatres of public health facilities, reducing maternal and newborn deaths and stillbirths and ensuring respectful maternity care.

Nikshay is the online case management system of the TB programme, NISHCHAY is a home-based pregnancy test kit initiative, and ARSH is the adolescent reproductive and sexual health programme.

Answer: C

The one that is not an intervention is blood transfusion in anaemic mothers.

Anaemia Mukt Bharat (2018) uses a 6x6x6 strategy: six target groups, six institutional mechanisms and six interventions. The six interventions are prophylactic iron and folic acid supplementation, deworming, intensified behaviour change communication (including delayed cord clamping), testing and treatment of anaemia using digital methods, mandatory provision of fortified foods in public programmes, and addressing non-nutritional causes of anaemia.

Blood transfusion is a treatment for severe anaemia in a clinical setting, not one of the six programme interventions.

Answer: D

The answer is 1, 2, 4, 5.

Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK), launched in 2013, screens children from birth to 18 years for the 4 Ds: Defects at birth, Deficiencies, Diseases of childhood, and Developmental delays including Disabilities. Among the options, deficiency, disabilities, defects and developmental delays are part of this list.

Deafness is one of the conditions screened under defects and disabilities, but it is not one of the 4 Ds themselves, so every option including 3 is wrong.