NFHS -5 Data Released by the Union Health Ministry

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• The Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry has released the National Family Health Survey - 5 data.The NFHS-4 was released in 2015-16 and the latest, which captured population health indicators in 2017-19, was delayed due to the pandemic.

Who Conducts the Survey?

• The NFHS is conducted by the Union Health and Family affairs Ministry. 

What is the usefulness of the NFHS data?

• The main objective of successive rounds of the NFHS is to provide reliable and comparable data relating to health and family welfare and other emerging issues.
• It provides information on important indicators which are helpful in tracking the progress of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the country.

Important Highlights of the NFHS -5 data 

• The Total Fertility Rates (TFR), an average number of children per woman, has further declined from 2.2 to 2.0 at the national level.  The urban TFR is 1.6 and rural 2.1. All states except Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, Manipur and Meghalaya, have attained TFR l of 2.1.
• Overall Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (CPR) has increased substantially from 54% to 67% at all-India level.
• Full immunization drive among children aged 12-23 months has recorded substantial improvement from 62 per cent to 76 per cent at all-India level.
• Institutional births have increased substantially from 79 per cent to 89 percent at all-India Level.
• Child Nutrition indicators show a slight improvement at all-India level as Stunting has declined from 38 per cent to 36 per cent, wasting from 21 per cent to 19 per cent and underweight from 36 per cent to 32 percent at all-India level.
• Exclusive breastfeeding to children under age 6 months has shown an improvement in all-India level from 55 percent in 2015-16 to 64 per cent in 2019-21

Terms :

TFR (Total Fertility Rates)

• It refers to the average number of children which a woman can give birth to during her reproductive life cycle .
•  According to the UN Population Division, a TFR of about 2.1 children per woman is called replacement-level fertility. If replacement level fertility is sustained over a sufficiently long period, each generation will exactly replace itself. The population of the country will neither increase nor decline if the fertility rate of the country is 2.1

 Malnutrition in  Child Nutrition:

•  According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) Malnutrition refers to deficiencies or excesses in nutrient intake, imbalance of essential nutrients or impaired nutrient utilization. It consists of both undernutrition and overweight and obesity, as well as diet-related noncommunicable diseases. 
• Undernutrition manifests in four broad forms: wasting, stunting, underweight, and micronutrient deficiencies.

Wasting:

• Wasting is defined as low weight-for-height .It usually occurs when a person has not had food of adequate quality and quantity and/or they have had frequent or prolonged illnesses.

Stunting:

• Stunting is defined as low height-for-age.It is the result of chronic or recurrent undernutrition, usually associated with poverty, poor maternal health and nutrition, frequent illness and/or inappropriate feeding and care in early life

Underweight 

• Underweight is defined as low weight-for-age. A child who is underweight may be stunted, wasted or both.

Micronutrient 

• Micronutrient deficiencies are a lack of vitamins and minerals that are essential for body functions such as producing enzymes, hormones and other substances needed for growth and development.

National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 

The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) is a large-scale, multi-round survey conducted in a representative sample of households throughout India.

Institutions involved in Survey 

The NFHS is a collaborative project of the International Institute for Population Sciences(IIPS), Mumbai, India; ICF, Calverton, Maryland, USA and the East-West Center, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. 

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW), Government of India, designated IIPS as the nodal agency, responsible for providing coordination and technical guidance for the NFHS.

Survey and its Phases  

The First National Family Health Survey (NFHS-1) was conducted in 1992-93. 

The Second National Family Health Survey (NFHS-2) was conducted in 1998-99 in all 26 states of India 

The Third National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3) was carried out in 2005-2006.

The Fourth  National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) was carried out in 2015-2016.

The Fifth National  Family and Health Survey(NFHS-5)was conducted in two phases, in 2019 and 2021.