The Chadha Committee (1963) was a landmark health planning committee in India that laid groundwork for integration of specialized disease control programs into the general health services. Appointed under the chairmanship of Dr. M.S. Chadha, then Director General of Health Services, its primary focus was the transition of National Malaria Eradication Programme (NMEP) into its “Maintenance Phase.”
Objectives of the Chadha Committee
The committee was established during a critical point in India’s public health —the shift from active disease eradication to long-term vigilance.
Its key objectives included:
Maintenance of Malaria Eradication:
- To study and suggest arrangements for the “Maintenance Phase” of the National Malaria Eradication Programme (NMEP).
Integration of Services:
- To examine how specialized activities (like malaria surveillance) could be absorbed into the general health services, specifically at the Block level.
Staffing Analysis:
- To recommend a staffing pattern for Primary Health Centres (PHCs) that would be capable of handling malaria vigilance along with other health duties.
Multipurpose Functioning:
- To explore the feasibility of using field workers for multiple health tasks rather than single-disease vertical programs.
Major Recommendations
The committee’s report emphasized a shift away from “vertical” programs (where staff only work on one disease) toward a “horizontal” approach integrated into existing health infrastructure.
The most significant recommendation was the creation of a new cadre of health staff:
- The committee recommended appointing one Basic Health Worker for every 10,000 people.
- These workers were called multipurpose worker as their work is not to be limited to malaria.
- Their duties included:
- Monthly house-to-house visits to identify fever cases.
- Collection of data on births and deaths.
- Promoting family planning initiatives and distributing contraceptives.
To ensure the effectiveness of these grassroots workers, a supervisory layer was proposed:
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Family Planning Health Assistants were tasked with supervising 3 to 4 Basic Health Workers.
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The Primary Health Centre (PHC) at the block level was made responsible for all vigilance operations.
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District and State Levels: The committee suggested that from the district level upwards, the general health services should take full responsibility for the maintenance of eradicated diseases.
Impact and Criticism
While the Chadha Committee was visionary in its attempt to integrate health services, its implementation faced several challenges:
- The Basic Health Workers were often overwhelmed. They could not do perform multiple task as malaria vigilance & heavy targets for family planning and data collection.
- Because family planning often received higher administrative priority, malaria vigilance suffered, leading to a resurgence of the disease in some areas.
- Due to these practical difficulties, the government later appointed the Mukherji Committee (1966) to rethink the strategy, eventually leading to a recommendation to delink family planning from malaria activities to ensure both received adequate attention.
Let us just revise above point,
| Features & | Recommendation |
| Primary unit is | Primary Health Centre (PHC) at Block level |
| Key personnel will be | Basic Health Worker (BHW) |
| Population norm | 1 BHW per 10,000 population |
| Strategies are | Monthly house-to-house “Vigilance” visits |
| Other tasks are | Malaria, Family Planning, and Vital Statistics |