{"id":107314,"date":"2026-06-09T10:51:42","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T05:21:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=107314"},"modified":"2026-06-09T10:53:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T05:23:26","slug":"national-family-health-survey-upsc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/national-family-health-survey-upsc\/","title":{"rendered":"National Family Health Survey &#8211; Key Indicators and Changes"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>National Family Health Survey Latest News<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Union Health Ministry has released NFHS-6 fact sheets revealing notable gains in maternal care and child nutrition, but with a net reduction of 30 indicators, including critical metrics like anaemia, mortality, and sex ratio at birth.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>About NFHS<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) is a large-scale, multi-round household survey conducted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, with the <\/span><b><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/international-institute-for-population-sciences\/\" target=\"_blank\">International Institute for Population Sciences<\/a> (IIPS),<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Mumbai, as the nodal agency.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It provides reliable data on population, health, and nutrition indicators.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>NFHS-4 (2015-16)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Introduced district-level estimates and tablet-based digital interviewing, measuring 114 indicators.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>NFHS-5 (2019-21)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Expanded to 131 key indicators, introducing new topics like preschool education, disability, and menstrual practices.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>NFHS-6 (2023-24)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Covered nearly 6.8 lakh households across all states and UTs except Manipur.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Historically, the NFHS has been additive by design, retaining previous questionnaires and adding new ones.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, NFHS-6 marks a departure, for the first time, the survey has subtracted overall.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>What NFHS-6 Gained<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NFHS-6 introduced several new dimensions:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Self-Help Group (SHG) memberships<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Digital literacy<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Financial transactions<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hepatitis-B and Hepatitis-C testing among women and men<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dried blood spot collection from children aged 4-5 for Hepatitis-B testing<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Biological HIV testing has been brought back as part of clinical and biochemical testing<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Improvements in Key Indicators<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mothers receiving at least 4 antenatal check-ups: Up about 7 percentage points from NFHS-5.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Institutional births: Increased to 90.6% from 88.6%.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Women&#8217;s Internet use: Notable increase across states.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stunting among children under 5: Declined by over 6 percentage points, compared to under 3 percentage points between NFHS-4 and NFHS-5.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Spousal violence: Dropped from 29.3% to 22.3%.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>State-Level Highlights<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Health insurance coverage in West Bengal rose from 33.7% to 88.2%, the largest increase.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Women&#8217;s Internet use in Andhra Pradesh jumped from 21% to 63.6%, the steepest rise.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, the share of women classified as overweight or obese increased in every state.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>What NFHS-6 Lost<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The preliminary fact sheet of NFHS-6 has only 101 indicators, compared to 131 in NFHS-5, a net reduction of 30 indicators (43 dropped, 13 added).<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Anaemia Dropped<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Anaemia had shown a worsening picture between NFHS-4 and NFHS-5:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"3\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Children: 58.6% to 67.1%<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"3\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Women aged 15-49: 53.1% to 57%<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"3\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pregnant women: 50.4% to 52.2%<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"3\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The rise was near-universal, with child anaemia increasing in 28 states\/UTs despite the Anaemia Mukt Bharat campaign (2018).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why dropped? NFHS measured haemoglobin from a finger-prick blood sample read on a portable analyser, which several nutrition researchers argued overstated anaemia compared to venous blood drawn by other surveys.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Replacement<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Anaemia will now be tracked through the Diet and Biomarkers Survey, launched in December 2022 at the ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad. This survey uses venous blood instead of the finger-prick method and tracks obesity alongside anaemia for the first time. Data collection is complete but yet to be released.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Mortality Indicators Removed<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Three mortality indicators have been cut:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Neonatal mortality<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Infant mortality<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Under-five mortality<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These will now be tracked by the Sample Registration System (SRS), whose latest bulletin pegged infant mortality at 24 per 1,000 live births. However, SRS does not provide district-level data or socio-economic breakdowns available in NFHS.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Sex Ratio Indicators Removed<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Both the sex ratio of the total population and the sex ratio at birth (929 females per 1,000 males in NFHS-5) are absent.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This removes a key signal of sex-selective practices in the country.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Sanitation and Clean Cooking Fuel Dropped<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Two indicators closely tied to flagship government programmes have been removed:<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Access to sanitation facilities: NFHS-5 recorded 70%, a measure linked to the Swachh Bharat Mission and the 2019 declaration of India as open defecation-free.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Clean cooking fuel use: 58.6% in NFHS-5, a direct measure of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana&#8217;s success.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Cancer Screening Indicators Gone<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Four cancer-screening indicators covering cervical, breast, and oral cancer, introduced for the first time in NFHS-5, have been dropped after a single round.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Implications of the Changes<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Data Gaps: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The removals leave no current survey-based national figure for:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Infant mortality with district-level breakdowns<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sanitation coverage<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sex ratio at birth<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cancer screening rates<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Comprehensive HIV knowledge<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These are gaps that no other single source fills at the same scale.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Concerns Over Programme Evaluation<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The removal of indicators tied to flagship schemes, sanitation, clean cooking fuel, anaemia, limits the ability to:<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Independently evaluate the effectiveness of programmes like Swachh Bharat Mission, Ujjwala Yojana, and Anaemia Mukt Bharat.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Track district-level disparities that aggregate statistics cannot reveal.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Identify socio-economic patterns in health outcomes.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Trade-offs in Survey Design<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The shift represents a fundamental change in NFHS philosophy, moving from an additive design to a more selective approach.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While this may reduce respondent burden and improve data quality, it also reduces the survey&#8217;s role as a single comprehensive source of health and demographic data.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Significance of NFHS-6 Changes<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Methodological Improvements<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The dropping of finger-prick anaemia measurement in favour of venous blood methods reflects efforts to improve data accuracy.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The reintroduction of biological HIV testing addresses a gap from NFHS-5.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>New Areas of Inquiry<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The addition of digital literacy, DBT, and SHG indicators acknowledges the changing landscape of welfare delivery and women&#8217;s empowerment in India.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Concerns Over Transparency<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The lack of a published rationale for many changes raises questions about:<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Transparency in survey design decisions.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Consistency in measuring progress over time.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Continuity of long-term data series critical for policy evaluation.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source:<\/b> <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/what-is-lost-and-gained-in-nfhs-6\/article71076595.ece#google_vignette\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">TH<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The National Family Health Survey records significant gains in maternal care and child nutrition but drops 30 key indicators.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":107322,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[60,4708,22,59],"class_list":{"0":"post-107314","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"tag-mains-articles","9":"tag-national-family-health-survey","10":"tag-upsc-current-affairs","11":"tag-upsc-mains-current-affairs-tag","12":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107314"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107314\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107329,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107314\/revisions\/107329"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}