The National Family Health Survey-6 (NFHS-6/2023-24) information has a mixed container for Kerala, with the State making important gains successful immunisation coverage, kid nutrition and maternal and kid health, portion it deepens the concerns astir the steep emergence successful the load of non-communicable diseases and obesity, particularly amongst women.
NFHS-6 besides reveals a precise acheronian broadside of Kerala society, with reported spousal unit going up from 9.8% successful NFHS-5 (2019-21) to 17.7% successful NFHS-6. Another shameful revelation is the summation successful carnal unit during pregnancy, which has besides accrued from 0.5% successful NFHS-05 to 1.7% successful NFHS-6. However, it needs adjacent introspection whether this summation is owed to accrued reporting of unit oregon summation successful existent unit against women.
Rise successful colonisation supra 60 years
Kerala’s ageing demographic illustration sharpens further successful NFHS-6, with the proportionality of the colonisation aged supra 60 years rising from 18.6% successful NFHS-5 (2019-21) to 20.7% successful NFHS-6 (2023-24), which is importantly supra the nationalist mean of 12.9%. This demographic illustration has heavy implications for the State’s wellness strategy planning, societal information spending and aged attraction and payment policies, thing that the State has lone begun to instrumentality cognisance of.
Nearly fractional of the big women colonisation successful Kerala are obese oregon overweight—NFHS-6 puts the proportionality of obese oregon overweight women successful Kerala astatine a whopping 46.7%, up from 38.2% recorded successful NFHS-5. This is mode supra the nationalist mean of 30.7% (which besides showed an summation from 24% successful NFHS-5).
About 37% of men successful Kerala are besides overweight oregon obese, against the nationalist mean of 27.3%.
The rising load of NCDs successful the State is good documented successful galore erstwhile studies. NFHS-6 information shows that Kerala is acold up of the nationalist mean erstwhile it comes to the prevalence of NCDs.
NFHS-6 puts the proportionality of women successful the 15-49 years years with precocious (systolic 141-160 mg/dl) oregon precise precocious (above systolic 160mg/dl) humor sweetener and already connected medicine astatine 28.9% (national mean is 17.8%) and the proportionality of men successful the aforesaid class astatine 31.9% (national mean is (20.9%)
About 36.6% men and 31.9% women successful Kerala person elevated humor unit oregon hypertension and are connected medication, against the nationalist mean of 22.1 % and 19.4% respectively.
A rapidly ageing colonisation and precocious prevalence of NCDs bespeak that Kerala’s nationalist wellness challenges up are immense and that this volition person important implications connected the State’s wellness expenditure arsenic good arsenic the out-of-pocket expenditure connected health.
Kerala, however, has made important gains erstwhile it comes to immunisation, kid nutrition presumption according to NFHS-6. The proportionality of afloat immunised children successful the 12-13 months property radical has improved from 78.4% successful NFHS-5 to 84.9%. The rotavirus vaccination sum (the vaccine was made portion of the nationalist immunisation docket successful 2019) has shown a leap from 9.5% to 87.2% .The 2nd dose of measles-containing vaccine (MCV2) has besides jumped from 31.9 % to 83.3 % betwixt the 2 NFHS rounds. About 95.2% of the immunisation successful the State takes spot successful nationalist hospitals.
Child nutrition
When it comes to kid nutrition, among children nether 5 years, the proportionality of stunting has travel down from 23.4% to 20.1%; wasting shows a driblet from 15.8% to 10.9%; the proportionality of underweight children has travel down somewhat from 19.7% to 17.8%.
Male intoxicant depletion successful the State is present astatine 22.7%, a flimsy summation from 19.9% successful NFHS-5, portion baccy usage shows a flimsy diminution from 16.9% to 15.9% successful NFHS-6
The NFHS-6 survey covered 6,79,238 households, 7,16,397 women, and 1,00,977 men crossed the country. In Kerala, the households surveyed was 13,005, with 11,187 women participants and 1,542 men.

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