India Shows Improved Family Health Over a 10-Year Period: National Survey

The Union Health ministry has released the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) data for 2015- 2016. The previous survey was conducted before 11 years in 2005 -2006. The survey covered 13 states and two union territories on various important health indicators.

The Phase 1 data results examined health indicators like electricity source, female literacy rate, sex ratio, clean fuel consumption, sanitation facility, health insurance coverage, infant mortality, family planning, source of drinking water, marital age of women and institutional births.

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‘National Family Health Survey 2015-2016 data shows that a large part of India has shown substantial improvement in the health of its citizens over the past decade. ’

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The results showed that there was much improvement in the improved drinking water source, electricity source and institutional births among all the states and union territories covered.

The results between 2015-2016 and 2005-2006 data showed that the maximum increase in the drinking water source was in Madhya Pradesh (84.7% from 74.2%) and the electricity source was in West Bengal (93.7% from 52.5%).

It also showed that more women opted for institutional births with the maximum increase in Madhya Pradesh (80.8% from 26.2%) while Goa topped the chart with 97%.

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The sex ratio was lowest in Haryana with 876 females per 1,000 males. In the female literacy rate, Bihar (49.6%) was the lowest, while Goa (89%) had the highest rate.

Madhya Pradesh had the highest infant mortality rate with 58 babies dying per 1,000 live births. Bihar was the next with 48 per 1,000 live births.

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Women getting married before 18 years of age was highest in West Bengal (40.7%) also the family planning method was also highest in the state (70.9%). But the family planning methods have decreased in all other states.

Goa topped the chart in the clean fuel for cooking (84.1%) criteria while Haryana in sanitation facility (79.2%). Tamil Nadu was the highest in the number of households covered by health insurance with (64.1%).

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The states topping the chart for all the health indicators analyzed in the survey are given in the table below,

CRITERIA	STATE (Topping the Chart)	PERCENTAGE (%)
Households with Electricity	Goa	99.8
Sex Ratio (Females per 1000 males)	Bihar	1062/1083
Households using Improved Sanitation Facility	Haryana	79.2
Households covered by Health Insurance	Tamil Nadu	64.1
Households using Clean Fuel for Cooking	Goa	84.1
Female Literacy	Tamil Nadu	79.4
Infant Mortality	Bihar	48
Family Planning Method of Households	West Bengal	70.9
Households with an Improved Drinking Water Source	Bihar	98.2
Women aged 20-24 years married before age 18 years	West Bengal	40.7
Institutional Births	Goa	96.9
Source: National Family Health Survey (2015-2016)

The survey for the rest of the country is underway. NFHS-4 is the first survey to collect data from each of India’s 29 states and all seven union territories.

Source-Medindia