Lok Sabha Question No. 1253 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-02-09
Subject: National Family Health Survey-4
Ministry: HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE
Asked by: SUDHEER GUPTA, SUNIL BALIRAM GAIKWAD, KUNWAR HARIBANSH SINGH, GAJANAN CHANDRAKANT KIRTIKAR, NARANBHAI KACHHADIA, ASHOK SHANKARRAO CHAVAN, T. RADHAKRISHNAN, VIJAY KUMAR S.R.

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE

## DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1253 TO BE ANSWERED ON 9 TH FEBRUARY, 2018

## NATIONAL FAMILY HEAL TH SURVEY - 4

## 1253. SHRI SUDHEER GUPTA:

DR. SUNIL BALIRAM GAIKWAD:

KUNWAR HARIBANSH SINGH:

SHRI GAJANAN KIRTIKAR:

SHRI NARANBHAI KACHHADIYA:

SHRI ASHOK SHANKARRAO CHAVAN:

SHRI T. RADHAKRISHNAN:

SHRI S.R. VIJAYAKUMAR:

Will the Minister of HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE be pleased to state:

- (a) the number of National Family Health Survey (NFHS) conducted in the country so far along with the major finding thereto, State/UT - wise, survey -wise;
- (b) whether certain States have not been covered under aforesaid survey and if so, the details thereof along with the reasons therefor;
- (c) whether the Government has released the findings of the National Family Health Survey -4  (NFHS- 4)  2015 - 16 recently  and  if  so,  the  details  thereof  along with  main  findings  of NFHS - 4;
- (d) whether there have been delays in thepublication of the results of recent NFHS and if so, the details thereof along with the reasons therefor;
- (e)  whether  as  per  the  NFHS - 4,  mostIndians  eat  unbalanced  diet  and  if  so,  the details thereof along with the reasons therefor; and
- (f) the correcti ve measures taken/ being taken by the Government?

## ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE

(SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)

- (a):Four rounds of National Family Health Survey (NFHS) were conducted in the country during 1992 - 3(NFHS 1),1998- 99 (NFHS 2), 2005 - 06 (NFHS - 3)

and 2015- 16 (NFHS - 4) . All four rounds of the survey were conducted under th stewardship  of  the  Ministry  of  Health  and  Family  Welfare,  Government India, with the In ternational In stitute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, as the nodal agency.

The publication s containing detailed findings of the survey s are available at link http://rchiips.org/NFHS/index.shtml .

( b): In NFHS-1 Sikkim and the Kashmir region of Jammu and Kashmir have not been covered primarily due to the local law and order situation. Further, Union Territories except Delhi were also not covered in NFHS 1 to NFHS 3, the total population of these areas taken together are less then one percent o India's population.

(c): The district, Stateand national factsheets were released in 2016 and 2017. F ive state reports (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana a O disha ) were released i n  November,  2017 .  The  remaining  state  reports  and national report were released in January, 2018 .

The keyfindings of NFHS - 4 include:

IMR (for the five - year period preceding the survey) has declined from 57. per 1,000 live births in NFHS - 3 to 40.7 per 1,000 l ive births in NFHS - 4.

Institutional deliveries have increased markedly from 38.7 percent in NFHS -3 to 78.9 percent in NFHS - 4.

Percentage of m others who had at least 4 antenatal care visits have incre from 37 in NFHS - 3 to 51.2 in NFHS - 4.

TFR  has  declined  to  2.18  children  per  woman  in NFHS - 4 from  2.68  in NFHS - 3 moving closer to replacement level of 2.1.

Percentage of Children age 12 - 23 months fully immunized (BCG, measles and 3 doses each of polio and DPT) increased from 43.5 per cent in NF HS - 3 o 62 per cent in NFHS - 4.

Among  children  under age 5  years  the  prevalence  of  stunting  and underweight has decreased since 2005 - 06, from 48.0 percent in NFHS - 3 to 38.4 percent in NFHS - 4 and from 69.5 percent to 58.4 percent .

NFHS - 4 factsheets, reports a ealsoavailable at link:

http://rchiips.org/NFHS/index.shtml .

(d): Yes.  The  NFHS- 4  activities  were  delayed  due  to  some  unforeseen reasons like court case resulting in stoppage of work, refusal of some selected  agencies  to  take  up  the  work  etc.  Further  there  was  some  del testing of Dried Blood Spot samples  for HIV.

(e): As perNFHS - 4,  deficiencies in the diet of both women and men are observed among those with little or no schooling, those in rural areas, poorer  households,  and  those  belonging  to  scheduled  tribes  and  schedu castes. The most promi nent deficiency in their diet is non- availability of fruits and milk or curd. However regular consumption of pulses and beans, as well as dark green, leafy vegetables, is common in every state.  At least three - quarters of women eat dark green, leafy veget ables at least once a week in every State except  Rajasthan  (61%),  Kerala (63%),  and  Uttar  Pradesh  (73%)  and  in  the Union Territories of Lakshadweep (52%) and Daman & Diu (67%).

Infants  and  young  children  require  a  minimum  acceptable  diet  (MAD)  t ensure a ppropriate growth and development.  As per NFHS - 4, twenty percent of breastfed  children  had  an  adequately  diverse  diet  since  they  had  been foods from the appropriate number of food groups, while 31 percent had b fed  the  minimum  number  of  times  app ropriate  for  their  age.  The  feeding practices  of  only  9  percent  of  breastfed  children  age  6 - 23  months  meet  the minimum standards for all Infant and Young Child Feeding ( IYCF ) practices. Ten percent of all children age 6 -23 months were fed the minimum acce ptable diet.

(f) : The corrective measures taken by Government of India to improve nutritional status of the population is given at A nnexure.

## Annexure.

Following are different programme and schemes undertaken to  improve nutritional status of population:

- 'MAA -Mothers'  Absolute  Affection'  programme forPromotion of  appropriate  IYCF practices to  promote  breastfeeding, Nutrition  Rehabilitation  Centres  (NRCs) in  States and UTs for treatment of sick children with Severe Acut e Malnutrition (SAM),
- Provision of Vitamin A supplementation (VAS) for under - five children, Village Health and Nutrition Days and Mother and Child Protection Card for addressing the nutrit concerns in children, pregnant women and lactating mothers,
- National Iron Plus Initiative for supplementation and treatment of anaemia in children, adolescents, pregnant and lactating women,
- National Deworming Day to administer Albendazole tablets to all the children in the a group of 1 - 9 years & pregnant women,
- Intensified Diarrhea Control Fortnight (IDCF) annually to control childhood diarrhea,
- Incentive  to  Accredited  Social  Health  Activist(ASHA)  works  for  nutrition  rela activities under National Health Mission(NHM).
- Promotion for intake of iodized salt and monitoring salt quality,
- Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) and Rashtriya Kishore Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK), to detect nutrition deficiency among children and adolescents an redressal of the same,
- Provision of Iron and Folic acid supplementation t o pregnant/anaemic women,
- Calcium Supplementation to pregnant women,
- Insecticidal nets for prevention of malaria in Malaria endemic regions,
- Booklets to school children in all States/UTs containing, inter alia, useful inform the importance & intake of balanced nutrition
- The  National  Food  Security  ACT,  2013      aims  to  provide  for  food  and  nutrition security in human life cycle approach, by ensuring access to adequate quantity of q food at affordable prices to people to live a life with d ignity.
- Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has formulated Standards for Fortifica of five items (Wheat Flour, Rice, Milk, Oil and Salt) of food with Micronutrients: -
- Other schemes under different Ministries of Government of India, eting improvement of nutritional status are as under: -

targ

- i.    Integrated  Child  Development  Services  Schemes  (ICDS)  for  preschool  childre Pregnant & lactating women.
- ii.  Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls [RGSEAG] -( ABLA).
- iii.   Maternity Benefit Scheme.
- iv.      National  Programme  of  Nutritional  Support  to  Primary  Education  (Mid - Day  Meal Programme) provides hot cooked meals to school children upto Standard VIII.
- v.    Improving the purchasing power of the people through various income generating schemes including Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
- vi.   National Rural Drinking Water Programme etc.