NITI Aayog Health Index Report out: 5 main takeaways

NITI Aayog released its fourth Health Index report on Monday, December 27. For the fourth round of the Health Index data, 2018-19 has been used as the base year and 2019-20 as the reference year.

Before we get to the findings, let’s first understand: What is a Health Index Report?

Under the National Development Agenda in 2015, all states and Union Territories decided to give priority to different sectors including Health, Nutrition, Education, Women and Children. Therefore, to achieve desirable outcomes, NITI Aayog and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare are collectively taking steps to encourage states and UTs to take necessary steps in the health sector. As one of the steps, these two government bodies launched the Health Index initiative.

The health index measures the changes in performance over the years by different states and UTs over the years. The aim is to assist state-level monitoring of performance and improvement in health outcomes. The first Health Index report came out in 2018.

The data has been divided into three parts: larger states, smaller states and Union Territories.

LARGER STATES: Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal.

SMALLER STATES: Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura.

UNION TERRITORIES: Andaman and Nicobar, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Lakshadweep and Puducherry.

The Health Index data is derived from 24 indicators such as Neonatal Mortality Rate, Under-five Mortality Rate, Sex Ratio at Birth, Maternal Mortality Ratio, Full immunisation coverage and so on.

5 POINTS TO NOTE FROM 4TH HEALTH INDEX REPORT

1. UP IS THE TOP PERFORMER

Uttar Pradesh has been ranked as the top performer in terms of incremental health performance among the 20 larger states, which indicates better performance as compared to the previous year. While in the smaller states, Mizoram is on the top.

2. KERALA IS THE OVERALL WINNER

Just like the last three years, Kerala has again been ranked number one for best overall health performance, followed by Tamil Nadu. Uttar Pradesh, on the other hand, is at the bottom of this list.

3. TELANGANA’S RATING IMPROVED

In terms of overall health performance, Telangana has jumped from 4th position to 3rd.

4. IN SMALLER STATES, MIZORAM IS ON TOP

In both incremental health performance data as well as overall health performance, Mizoram is on the top of the list in smaller states.

5. THE UNION TERRITORIES

Delhi is at the bottom third amongst Union Territories in the overall health performance chart. On the other hand, the national capital is on top in terms of incremental performance. Dadar and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu share the first position, followed by Chandigarh, in overall health performance.

NITI Aayog collaborated with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to prepare the health index report, with technical assistance from the World Bank.