Indicators ‘missing’ in NFHS being monitored through national databases, say sources

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Image for representational purposes only. File

Image for representational purposes only. File | Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto

Union Health Ministry sources addressed disapproval directed astatine “missing” indicators, specified arsenic anaemia, sanitation and sum of cleanable cooking fuel, successful the National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-6 factsheets saying those are being monitored done dedicated nationalist surveys and administrative databases, and were not ‘duplicated’ successful the preliminary release.

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Responding to “commentary successful sections of the media regarding the lack of definite indicators”, authoritative sources said the factsheets correspond the archetypal signifier of dissemination and screen 101 large indicators intended to supply a concise snapshot of India’s astir captious wellness and demographic trends.

“The factsheets are the archetypal signifier of dissemination. The elaborate nationalist study volition supply a overmuch broader picture,” sources said. The study volition beryllium released subsequently with a overmuch wider scope of indicators, elaborate analyses and methodological documentation.

“The nonsubjective is to guarantee that each indicator is reported done the astir due and authoritative source, reducing duplication and improving wide information coherence,” 1 of the sources said.

The sources said respective indicators cited arsenic “missing” from the factsheets are being monitored done dedicated nationalist systems. Sanitation and cleanable cooking substance coverage, for instance, are tracked done specialised surveys and administrative platforms specified arsenic Swachh Survekshan Grameen and the Statistics and Programme Implementation Ministry’s surveys, making duplication wrong the factsheets unnecessary, they said.

Key statistic relating to mortality, commencement registration and colonisation characteristics proceed to beryllium generated done established systems specified arsenic the Sample Registration System, Civil Registration System and Census framework, which stay the country’s designated sources for these indicators, the sources said.

On the lack of anaemia estimates successful the factsheets, they said that haemoglobin investigating was not undertaken successful NFHS-6 owed to concerns surrounding the capillary humor sampling methodology utilized successful erstwhile rounds.

Instead, anaemia prevalence estimates volition beryllium derived from the Indian Council of Medical Research’s Diet and Biomarkers Survey, which employs gold-standard venous humor sampling methods to amended accuracy and reliability. The determination reflects an effort to fortify the prime of wellness information alternatively than trim the survey’s scope, they said.

Far from narrowing the survey’s coverage, NFHS-6 has introduced respective caller indicators into the factsheets, including colonisation composition, aged colonisation share, fiscal inclusion, antenatal attraction utilisation, vaccination coverage, terrible diarrhoeal illness prevalence and expanded breastfeeding indicators, they said.

Official sources clarified that respective indicators not reflected successful the factsheets person not been dropped and volition beryllium presented successful greater item successful the afloat nationalist report. These see granular household readying indicators, selected kid wellness interventions, further aspects related to women’s wellness and HIV-related findings.

They said that NFHS remains India’s largest and astir broad household wellness survey and continues to service arsenic a cornerstone for evidence-based policymaking. The last nationalist study is presently being prepared successful consultation with method experts, applicable Ministries and improvement partners earlier its release, they said.

The NFHS questionnaire undergoes periodic refinement to bespeak emerging argumentation priorities portion maintaining survey prime and reducing responsive burden, a signifier commonly followed by large household surveys worldwide, authoritative sources said.

The improvement of the NFHS reporting model reflects the increasing maturity of India’s statistical architecture, wherever aggregate specialised surveys and administrative databases progressively complement 1 different to supply a much comprehensive, close and argumentation applicable representation of the country’s improvement journey, they said.

Published - June 07, 2026 04:13 p.m. IST

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