Co-locating AYUSH in India's Primary Health Care: A Scoping Review

Title Co-locating AYUSH in India's Primary Health Care: A Scoping Review Authors Binod Kumar Patro (Professor) Prajna Paramita Giri (Additional Professor) Sandeep Das (Senior Resident & Senior Medical Officer) Department of Community Medicine and Family Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Bhubaneswar, India Abstract India’s pluralistic health architecture formally integrates six traditional systems—Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Homoeopathy, and Sowa Rigpa (AYUSH)—within a predominantly allopathic public primary health care system. This scoping review maps the evidence on structural co-location and functional integration of AYUSH in India’s PHC system. Following Arksey & O’Malley (2005) and PRISMA-ScR, 87 records were identified and 17 sources included. Seven thematic domains emerged: historical foundations, coverage (6,158 PHCs, 12,500 AAMs as of 31 March 2025), integrative frameworks, salutogenesis as the “fourth tier”, policy/standards, patient care (>93% improvement reported), and mainstreaming challenges. Co-location has achieved scale but not depth. The evidence calls for functional co-governance, workforce parity, and positioning AYUSH as the salutogenic foundation of Indian PHC via the Ayushman Arogya Mandir framework. Keywords AYUSH, traditional medicine, primary health care, India, co-location, scoping review, salutogenesis, universal health coverage, Ayushman Arogya Mandir, NRHM Methods Summary Scoping review per Arksey & O’Malley (2005) and PRISMA-ScR. PubMed (4 Boolean strategies) + grey literature (Ministry of AYUSH, NHSRC, WHO, CCRAS, PIB) searched Jan–Feb 2026. 87 records screened → 17 included. No formal quality appraisal (scoping review convention). Full methods and PRISMA flow diagram available in the project files. Availability - Full manuscript (Word/PDF) - PRISMA 2020 flow diagram This project makes all materials openly available to promote transparency and reproducibility in AYUSH health systems research. License CC-BY 4.0 International Related Publications This is the final published version of the scoping review (submitted/accepted in 2026).