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Ramesh asks Azad not to wind up NFHS-Pramit Bhattacharya


Jairam Ramesh asks Azad not to wind up health survey

Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh has urged health and family welfare minister Ghulam Nabi Azad not to discontinue the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), till a credible alternative is in place.

In a 22 April letter, a copy of which has been reviewed by ‘Mint’, Ramesh questioned the comparability of data generated by the annual health survey (AHS) or the district level health survey (DLHS), which the government will be conducting in 2012-13, with the previous rounds of NFHS.

The government has decided to discontinue NFHS and instead roll out an integrated health survey called the National Health Survey (NHS) to replace AHS, DLHS and NFHS, ‘Mint’ reported on 12 April. The move was criticized by development experts and Ramesh’s letter to Azad echoes their concerns.

Development economist Jean Dreze and nutritionist Veena Shatrugna had questioned the move to discontinue NFHS. It is the three successive rounds of NFHS that established that child malnutrition rates in India are among the highest in the world.

Azad could not be reached for his comments and an email sent to him on 22 April remained unanswered.

Ramesh has suggested that NFHS be conducted at least once more to assess the impact of developmental schemes launched since 2005-06. The fourth round of NFHS can be a bridge between the earlier series and the proposed new survey, Ramesh wrote. Since authentic data on health and nutrition is scarce, “there is no immediate danger of any excess of surveys of this kind,” Ramesh wrote.