Centre defends NFHS questionnaire, says disability data won’t change fast

Subject :Schemes

Concept :

In response to criticism over the exclusion of disability-related questions in the 6th round of NFHS-6, the Union Health Ministry said that there is no need to collect these data every 3 years, as it will not change very fast.
The primary focus of NFHS is maternal and child health and the Survey won’t be able to collect accurate data on disability in its current form.

National Family Health Survey (NFHS):

It is a large-scale, multi-round survey conducted in a representative sample of households throughout India.
To collect reliable and up-to-date information on fertility, family planning, mortality and maternal & child health.
Conducted by:
All surveys have been conducted under the stewardship of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Government of India.
MoHFW designated the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai, as the nodal agency for the surveys.
NFHS was funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) with supplementary support from United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Number of Surveys Conducted:

The First Survey (NFHS-1): Conducted in 1992-93, the survey collected extensive information on population, health and nutrition, with an emphasis on women and young children.
The Second Survey (NFHS-2): Conducted in 1998-99 in all the states of India with added features on the quality of health and family planning services, domestic violence, reproductive health, anaemia, the nutrition of women and the status of women.
The Third Survey (NFHS-3): Carried out in 2005-2006, with the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) and the National AIDS Research Institute (NARI) providing technical assistance for the HIV component.
The Fourth Survey (NFHS-4): Carried out in 2014-2015, NFHS-4 is the first of the NFHS series that collects data in each of India’s States and UTs.
The 2019-2021 Fifth Survey (NFHS-5): NFHS-5 findings were eventually revealed in December 2020 (Phase-1), based on which MoHFW established a technical expert panel to develop indicators for malnutrition, stunting, anaemia and C-section.
The 2023-24 NFHS-6: The sixth in the NFHS series, provides information on population, health, and nutrition for India and each state and UT. Like NFHS-4 and NFHS-5, NFHS-6 also provides district-level estimates for many important indicators.