National Family Health Survey
Source: Indian Express
GS II: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.
Overview
- News in Brief
- What is the National Family Health Survey (NFHS)?
- Significance of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS)
Why in the News?
Several indicators available in the fifth National Family Health Survey (NFHS) (2019-2021) have been omitted from the sixth NFHS factsheet released on May 29.
News in Brief
- The NFHS-5 factsheet had 131 key indicators, while the NFHS-6 factsheet has 101.
- The omitted data points include: several population-level statistics, indicators related to women’s and children’s health, family planning, and data on central government schemes such as the Swachch Bharat Abhiyan (sanitation) and the Ujjwala Yojana (cooking fuel).
What is the National Family Health Survey (NFHS)?
- A large-scale household survey was conducted across India.
- To track data on health, family welfare, and nutrition.
- Help policy-makers to evaluate and design public health programs effectively.
- The National Family Health Survey is conducted by the International Institute of Population Sciences (IIPS), under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Missing Indicators in NFHS-6
Sex ratio at birth:
- Measured as the number of male births per 100 female births.
- Helps to prevent sex-selective practices and gender discrimination.
Civil Registration System Record
- The percentages of births and deaths not included in the survey.
- Ensures the effectiveness of the civil registration system.
Household Indicators
- Access to sanitation facilities – Swachch Bharat Abhiyan
- Use of clean cooking fuel – Ujjwala Yojana
- Helps to ensure their access to government schemes and the effectiveness of their implementation.
Women’s and children’s health
- Adolescent fertility rate
- Type of contraceptives used, family planning, whether women were informed of the side effects of their chosen contraceptive method, the out-of-pocket expenditure for each delivery.
- Helps to strengthen women’s and children’s health, the vulnerable groups in our society.
Data on health programs
- Cancer screening, HIV/AIDS indicators, children with diarrhoea, and indicators of abdominal obesity.
- These indicators help to assess the reach of preventive healthcare service delivery and awareness programs.
Concerns on Omissions
- Comparisons between NFHS-5 and NFHS-6 become difficult to drive conclusion.
- Comprehensive health database maintained by NFHS traditionally might reduce its reliability for researchers and policy-makers by omitting several indicators.
Reason cited by the Government for omissions
- Data Harmonisation: omitted indicators are included and have already been recorded in their respective administrative databases, like the Ujjwala Scheme, the report on Swachch Bharat, the Sample Registration Survey and the Indian Council of Medical Research.
Significance of the National Family Health Survey
- Formulating policies and programs related to healthcare, nutrition for children and women, and maternal health.
- Monitoring Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
- Evaluating effectiveness of Government policies and programs implementation.
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