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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Needed, a public health data architecture for India -Anand Krishnan

Needed, a public health data architecture for India -Anand Krishnan

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published Published on Dec 24, 2021   modified Modified on Dec 24, 2021

-The Hindu 

It would be better off with few comprehensive national surveys than being over-dependent on the omnibus NFHS

In a country perennially thirsty for reliable health data, the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) is like an oasis. It has a large volume of data that is openly accessible. The report of the fifth round of the NFHS was recently released (covering phase 2 States where data collection was delayed due to the novel coronavirus pandemic). Since then, we have had a spate of articles by journalists and scientists covering different aspects (malnutrition, fertility, domestic violence to name a few). It is the go-to source for many researchers and policy makers and is frequently used for various rankings by NITI Aayog.

Range and scope

For the uninitiated, the NFHS is a large survey conducted in a representative sample of households throughout India which started in 1992-93 and is repeated at an interval of about four to five years. It is the Indian version of the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), as it is known in other countries. Currently, the survey provides district-level information on fertility, child mortality, contraceptive practices, reproductive and child health (RCH), nutrition, and utilisation and quality of selected health services. The respondents are largely women in the reproductive age group (15-49 years) with husbands included. The fifth round covered 6,36,699 households, 7,24,115 women, and 1,01,839 men across the country. Each survey costs upwards of 250 crore and the funding for different rounds of NFHS has been provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Department for International Development (DFID), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), UNICEF, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

Over the years its scope has been expanded to include HIV, non-communicable diseases, or NCDs (tobacco and alcohol use, hypertension, blood sugar, etc.), Vitamin D3. It has now become an omnibus train where anyone and everyone is free to climb into for a ride. It offers something for everyone. While there is a level of efficiency in adding some questions to an existing survey, this has been lost a long time ago in the NFHS. In NFHS-4, the household questionnaire had 74 questions, the women’s questionnaire was 93 pages long with 1,139 questions and the men’s questionnaire was 38 pages long with 843 questions. The NFHS-5 questionnaire was even longer. The size of the survey has obvious implications for data quality.

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The Hindu, 24 December, 2021, https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/needed-a-public-health-data-architecture-for-india/article38023675.ece?homepage=true


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