Bihar Family Health Initiative (Ananya)

The Ananya program was developed and implemented via a partnership of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Government of Bihar as a means of improving reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health (RMNCH) outcomes in the state, in particular focusing on improving health behaviors and service utilization in the final trimester of pregnancy and early postpartum period. Ananya was designed as a series of supply- and demand-side efforts to improve health. Efforts were focused on strengthening outreach services in quantity and quality, improving quality of facility services, and mobilizing communities to improve health behaviors. The Ananya program included training, mobilizing, and monitoring of government frontline health workers (FLWs, including anganwadi workers- AWWS, auxiliary nurse midwives- ANMs, and community health workers-ASHAs) to increase quantity and quality of home visits for RMNH screenings and services, and media messages to increase demand for services.