The Full Form of VHND is‍ Village Health and Nutrition Day.

Village Health and Nutrition Days (VHNDs) are a major initiative under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) to improve access to maternal, newborn, child health and nutrition (MNCHN) services at the village level. Across the  country, VHNDs are intended to occur in every village once a month usually at the Anganwadi Centre (AWC) or other suitable location. AWCs are a central feature of the Ministry of Women and Child Development’s flagship Integrated  Child Development Services (ICDS) programme. VHNDs provide a basket of health and nutrition services and counselling to the community on a pre-designated day, time and place. VHNDs require convergent actions from the  Department of Health and Family Welfare (DHFW) and the Department of Women and Child Development (DWCD) at state, district and block levels to plan, implement and monitor the programme. Accredited Social Health Activists  (ASHAs) along with Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) are responsible for mobilising the community for VHNDs, with support from Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), and holding health education sessions. Auxilliary Nurse Midwives  (ANMs) provide maternal, newborn and child health services such as antenatal care (ANC) and routine immunisations. AWWs provide growth monitoring services and referral of children with severe acute malnutrition in addition to  distributing supplementary nutrition. The presence of all three frontline workers (i.e. AWW, ASHA and ANM) is critical for the provision of the intended package of services at VHNDs.

The Governments of Jharkhand (GOJH) and Uttar  Pradesh (GOUP) requested the USAID-funded Vistaar Project to provide technical assistance to improve the coverage and quality of VHNDs.