NITI AAYOG RELEASES HEALTH INDEX

 

For: Preliminary & Mains

Topics covered: NITI Aayog’s Health Index – findings

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News Flash

Government think tank NITI Aayog has published the second round of State Health Index, 2018.

It was prepared in collaboration with the health ministry and with technical assistance from the World Bank.

The health index is a composite measure of states and union territories based on 23 health indicators with major weightage given to mortality rate, total fertility rate and sex ratio, among other parameters.

The key aspects of health sector performance, grouped into domains of Health Outcomes, Governance and Information, and Key Inputs/Processes.

 

• Haryana, Rajasthan and Jharkhand take the top three spots—in that order—in incremental performance, while Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand have been shown as the worst performers.
• According to the report, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have not shown any improvement.
• Among UTs, Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshadweep have not shown any improvement over the previous years, while Puducherry has shown moderate improvement.
• The other three UTs– Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Chandigarh and Daman and Diu–have shown significant improvement.
• While Kerala remains the healthiest State in India, Uttar Pradesh remains the most unhealthy.

Health Index: Kerala

• Best overall performing State with a total score of 74.01.
• Kerala falls in the “not improved” category.
• Kerala and Chhattisgarh are the only two States with a Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) of more than 950.
• Under-5 mortality has gone up from 11 per 1,000 live births to 13.
• Kerala shows an increase in the proportion of fully immunised children between nine and 11 months of age.

 

Health Index – kerala

 

Health Index: Maharashtra

• Maharashtra has ranked third in terms of overall health performance.
• Maharashtra has achieved the sustainable development goal (SDG) target of under-five mortality rate (U5MR), which is 25 deaths per 1,000 live births and is close to achieving the target for neonatal mortality rate (NMR), which is 12 deaths per 1,000 live births.
• Maharashtra was also among the States that had at least one functional cardiac care unit in every two districts.
• The State lagged behind in some parameters, such as TB notification rates.
• There were 22.8% vacant positions of medical officers in primary health centres. In terms of specialists, the state had 47.3% vacancies.

 

 

Health Index: Tamil Nadu

• The State has registered the largest decline in its ranking, from third in 2015-16 to ninth in 2017-2018.
• The composite score of Tamil Nadu is 60.41.
• The State’s “most deteriorated” indicators are: the proportion of low birth weight among newborns, integrated disease surveillance programme reporting, the proportion of community health centres (CHC) with a grading of four points and more and the proportion of CHCs/Primary Health Centres (PHC) with quality accreditation certificates.
• The performance declined in full immunisation coverage, institutional deliveries, tuberculosis case notification and treatment success rate, vacancies of medical officers in PHCs and percentage of functional 24/7 PHCs.
• Tamil Nadu comes under the category of ‘Not Improved’ States.
• The state has done well in reducing the Neonatal Mortality Rate (NMR) and Under-five Mortality Rate.
• It has made significant improvements by establishing at least one cardiac care unit for every two districts.
• Achieved 100% registration of births.
• T.N. had already reached the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target for NMR — 12 neonatal deaths per 1,000 live births.
• T.N. has 80% institutional deliveries, and the remaining 20% deliver at home.
• The immunisation coverage is less than 80%.

 

Bihar

• The Bihar becoming progressively worse primarily due to the performance related to total fertility rate, low birth weight, Sex Ratio at Birth, Tuberculosis treatment success rate, quality accreditation of public health facilities, and time-taken for National Health Mission fund transfer
• Only 56 per cent of mothers delivers babies in health facilities in Bihar, which is worse than the national average.
• Bihar is in red because more low birth weight babies are being born as compared to 2015-16.

 

Uttarakhand

Uttarakhand’s Health Index score decreased mainly because of deterioration in neonatal mortality rate, Under-five mortality rate, the stability of tenure of key administrative positions at the district level, the functionality of First Referral Units (FRUs), and NHM fund transfer.

 

Odisha

The slide in Odisha’s Health Index score was mostly due to worsening of the full immunisation rate and TB treatment success rate, and in the case of Madhya Pradesh, it was a reduction in the level of birth registration and TB treatment success rate.

 

Source: Various News Papers

 

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