Union Health Ministry Releases National Family Health Survey – 6 (NFHS-6)

📌 Summary:

• Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare released NFHS-6; conducted in 2023–24, nodal agency: International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai
• Sample size: nearly 6.79 lakh households across 715 districts; district-level estimates available for evidence-based planning
• Maternal health gains (NFHS-5 → NFHS-6):
  • ANC coverage: 92.6% → 95.9%; first-trimester ANC: 70.0% → 76.2%; ≥4 ANC visits: 58.5% → 65.2%
  • Institutional deliveries: 88.6% → 90.6%; skilled-birth attendance: 89.4% → 91.3%; postnatal care for newborns within 2 days: 79.1% → 85.3%
  • Mothers consuming IFA supplements ≥100 days: 44.1% → 54.9%; ≥180 days: 26.0% → 37.8%
• Family planning: TFR remains stable at 2.0 (at replacement level); Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (CPR) rose 66.7% → 69.1%
• Child immunisation:
  • Full vaccination (12–23 months): 83.8% → 87.1%; any vaccine consistently >96%
  • 95.6% children vaccinated through public health facilities (signals trust in public system)
  • Rotavirus vaccination more than doubled: 36.4% → 85.4%; measles 2nd dose: 58.6% → 71.8%
• Child nutrition outcomes:
  • Stunting (low height-for-age, under 5): 35.5% → 29.3% (~17% reduction)
  • Severe wasting: 7.7% → 5.2% (~32% reduction)
  • Underweight (under 5): 32.1% → 31.8% (marginal decline)
  • Early breastfeeding within 1 hour: 41.8% → 50.1%; 6–8 month complementary feeding: 45.9% → 59.5%
• Child health: ARI symptoms 2.8% → 1.9%; severe diarrhoea down to 0.5%
• Drivers cited: JSY, JSSK, PMSMA/e-PMSMA, SUMAN, PMMVY 2.0, Mission Parivar Vikas, U-WIN digital tracking, Universal Immunization Programme, POSHAN Abhiyaan, Saksham Anganwadi, POSHAN 2.0, ICDS, NHM, Ayushman Bharat-PMJAY

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS2 — Health governance, evidence-based welfare delivery, financial protection in healthcare; GS1 — Population/Society. NFHS-6 is the single most authoritative dataset for assessing India's SDG-3 (Health) and SDG-2 (Nutrition) progress and shapes policy on MMR, IMR, U5MR, anaemia, and stunting strategies.

📝 Prelims Facts:

• NFHS-6 conducted 2023–24; nodal: IIPS Mumbai
• Sample: 6.79 lakh households, 715 districts
• TFR India = 2.0 (replacement level)
• Institutional deliveries: 90.6%
• Full immunisation (12–23 months): 87.1%
• Stunting (under 5): 29.3% (down from 35.5%)
• Severe wasting: 5.2% (down from 7.7%)
• Rotavirus vaccination: 85.4%
• Key schemes: JSY, JSSK, PMSMA, SUMAN, PMMVY 2.0, POSHAN 2.0, U-WIN (digital immunisation tracking), Mission Parivar Vikas

🔑 Key Term: NFHS — National Family Health Survey, a large-scale, multi-round survey conducted in representative samples of households throughout India, providing district-level estimates on health, nutrition, fertility, family welfare, and women's empowerment.