Health of a Nation

Context: National Family Health Survey-round 5 (NFHS-5) data serves as a litmus test to evaluate India’s prospects for achieving improved health and well-being for its population.

Improved indicators: as highlighted by NFHS-5

• Total Fertility Rate (TFR): Came down to 2.1 or below (replacement level) in all states and Union Territories (UTs), except Bihar (3), Meghalaya (2.9) and Manipur (2.2). Reasons for improvement:
  • Longstanding investment in population control.
  • Use of modern methods of contraception: Increased in 20 out of 22 states.
  • Increase in marriage age:  Number of women marrying before the legal age has fallen in 17 out of 22 states and UTs.
• Antenatal care(ANC): 17 of 22 states/UTs saw an increase in ANC visits during the first trimester.
• Rise in institutional deliveries: 14 out of 22 states and UTs have more than 90 % of new-borns being delivered in institutional facilities.
• Neonatal mortality: 14 out of 22 states/UTs have seen a decline.
• Women’s empowerment: Improvement in indicators like household decision making, control over personal hygiene choices and assets like bank accounts and mobile phones.
  • Women are spending more time in school with the percentage of women who completed at least ten years of schooling jumping by at least 6% points.
• Health Indicators: Increase in the number of households with a constructed toilet, improved drinking water as well as clean cooking fuel. 
  • More than 64% of younger women in each of the 22 states/UTs, except Bihar at 59%, are now using hygienic methods of protection during menstruation.

Areas of concern: as highlighted by NFHS-5

• Increase in rates of malnutrition, wasting and underweight children: Stunting can be affected by variables like -
  • Indicators of the mother a child are born to.
  • Economic situation of the household, adequacy of diets.
  • Water and sanitation facilities, as well as interventions for nutrition promotion and health.
  • Solution - Replicate Bihar model: shown a decline of stunting rates by about 5.4 % in 5 years.
• Increase in the rates of obesity: in children and risk factors for chronic diseases in adults like hypertension and blood glucose

Conclusion: A complete overhaul is needed to identify and address the multidimensional aspects of child malnutrition.