Recently the factsheet of ‘National Family and Health Survey-5’ has been released. NFHS-5 is the most comprehensive survey on socio-economic and health indicators in the country
The earlier 4 phases of the ‘National Family and Health Survey’ (NFHS), have been conducted in the years 1992-93, 1998-99, 2005-06 and 2015-16 respectively.
Key points of the report:
- According to the survey, fertility has declined as women outnumber men, and the number of older people in India is steadily increasing.
- It may be noted that in the year 2019-2021, there were 1,020 females per 1000 males in the country. This is the highest sex ratio in any National Family and Health Survey (NFHS) and since the first modern synchronous census conducted in 1881.
- The Total Fertility Rate (TFR) has decreased, and has fallen below the threshold at which the population is expected to be transferred from one generation to the next.
- The Gross Fertility Rate (TFR) in 2019-2021 was just 2, which was just below the ‘Replacement Fertility Rate’ (2.1).
- According to the report, there has been an improvement in the nutritional status of children, although its pace has been very slow. Since the last ‘NFHS’ conducted in 2015-16, stunting means ‘short height for age’ (stunting), stunting (underweight for height), and ‘decreased weight’ (age for age) There has been a decrease in the number of children with less than one birth weight.
- India may be ‘food safe’, but adequate nutrition is a problem even for adults. Although India has achieved ‘food security’, 60 per cent of Indians are not in a position to consume nutritious food.
About National Family and Health Survey (NFHS):
- The NFHS is a large scale multi-stage survey conducted across the country in representative samples of households across India.
- The ‘National Family Health Survey’, is conducted under the leadership of the ‘Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’, Government of India, in which the Mumbai-based ‘International Institute for Population Sciences- IIPS’ acts as the nodal agency. Is.
- Some of the new areas of special focus are included in the ‘NFHS’-5, such as death registration, pre-school education, expanded areas of child immunization, components of micronutrients for children, menstrual hygiene, alcohol and frequency of tobacco use, additional component diseases of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), extended age range to measure hypertension and diabetes in all people aged 15 years and above.
- All these will provide necessary inputs to strengthen existing programs and develop new strategies for policy interventions.
Each successive phase of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) has 2 specific goals:
- Providing necessary details on health and family welfare required by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and other agencies for policy making and other objectives of the program.
- Providing information on important issues of health and family welfare.
Source – PIB
