Union Health Miniter Mansukh Mandaviya released the National Family Health Survey-5, which provides estimates on key indicators related to population, family planning, child and maternal health, nutrition, adult health, domestic violence etc.
Conducted in around 6.37 lakh sample households from 707 districts from 28 states and 8 UTs, the NHFS-5 covered 7,24,115 women and 1,01,839 men providing disaggregated estimates up to the district level.
In the last five years, a slight decline has been recorded in the share of the young population. The under 15 population has declined by 2 per cent and the over-60 population has increased from 10 per cent to 12 per cent.
By comparing the National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-4 (2015-16) data with NFHS-5 (2019-21), it is found that the under-15 population declined from 29% to 27%. The National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-5 shows that about half the population i.e. 52% is below 30 per cent, which was 55 per cent in NFHS-4.
Between NNFHS 4 and 5, a decline of 2.2 to 2.0 in the national Total Fertility Rate (TFR) is recorded. Bihar and Meghalaya have the highest rates, while the lowest are Sikkim and Andaman and the Nicobar Islands in the country.
In rural areas, TFR declined from 3.7 children (1992-93) per woman to 2.1 children (2019-21). In the last two decades, the fertility rate in the Muslim community has declined sharply among all religious communities.
The number of pregnancies in teenage is also dipped from 7.9% to 6.8%. The socio-economic progress is observed as the use of contraceptives has increased, where the modern contraceptives¡¯ use increased with income from 50.7% of women in the lowest wealth quintile to 58.7% of women in the highest quintile.
Furthermore, the problem of overweight or obesity has increased in most States/UTs in NFHS-5. It increased from 21% to 24% among women and 19% to 23% among men at the national level.
With 49.9%, almost half the households did not use a government health facility during 2019-2. In the previous round of NFHS in 2015-16, it was recorded at 55.1%.
During 2019-21, Bihar (80%) had highest the proportion of such households, followed by Uttar Pradesh (75%). With less than 5%, Ladakh, Lakshadweep, and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands recorded the lowest. Further, 46.9% of families in urban areas and 51.7% in rural areas used the public health sector.
The NFHS-5 report states that the government health facilities at the national level provide poor quality of care.
According to the survey, Stunting in children is higher among children (37%) in rural areas than in urban children (30%). Stunting or chronic malnutrition results in low weight with respect to age, which recorded an increase in 11 of the 17 states.
Further, the decline in the neonatal mortality rate is observed from 49 deaths per 1,000 live births (1992-93 survey) to 25 deaths per 1,000 live births in the 2019-21 NFHS survey.
During the same period, the infant mortality rate declined from 79 deaths per 1,000 live births to 35 deaths per 1,000 live births and the mortality rate for under 5 declined from 109 deaths per 1,000 live births to 42 deaths per 1,000 live births.
According to the NFHS website, the NFHS is a large-scale, multi-round survey conducted in a representative sample of households across India.
In 1992-93, the first National Family Health Survey (NFHS-1) was conducted and the survey collected extensive information on population, health, and nutrition, with an emphasis on women and young children.?
In 1998-99, the 2nd National Family Health Survey (NFHS-2) was conducted in all 26 states of India with added features on the quality of health and family planning services, domestic violence, reproductive health, anemia, nutrition of women, and the status of women.?
In 2005-06, the 3rd National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3) was carried out in 29 states of India.
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