Lok Sabha Question No. 945 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-12-08
Subject: National Family Health Survey
Ministry: HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE
Asked by: Nalin Kumar Kateel, P.R. Natarajan

## GOVERNMENTOFINDIA

## MINISTRYOF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE DEPARTMENTOFHEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.945 TO BE ANSWERED ON 08.12.2023

## NATIONALFAMILY HEALTH SURVEY

## 945. SHRI NALIN KUMAR KATEEL: SHRI NATARAJAN P.R.:

Will the Minister of HEALTHANDFAMILYWELFARE be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has conducted Sixth National Family Health Survey (NFHS-6) in the country and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the time frame set for completion of the said survey;
- (c) whether the Government has dropped the disability related question from the said survey and if so, the details thereof along with the reasons therefor;
- (d) whether the Government has received any suggestions/complaints to make certain modifications in the survey proforma particularly for disabled persons and if so, the details thereof;
- (e) whether the Government had included disability related questions in the earlier round of NFHS-5; and
- (f) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH & FAMILY WELFARE

## (DR. BHARATI PRAVIN PAWAR)

(a) to (f): The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW) has launched sixth round of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-6). It is conducted in two phases covering about half the country in each phase with an aim to provide National, State and District-level estimates. The survey generally takes around 2 to 3 years for completion.

The selection of questions to be included in a NFHS questionnaire is based on recommendations of a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) and other high-level

Committees comprising of representatives from concerned Central Ministries such as M/o Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJE), M/o Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), M/o Women and Child Development (MoWCD), NITI Aayog etc., development partners and domain knowledge experts, constituted for smooth functioning of the survey. Based on the recommendations of TAC and other high-level Committees, questions related to disability were included in NFHS-5 (2019-21).

However, most of the data related to disability are already available in the survey report of National Sample Survey (NSS) 76th round namely 'Survey of Persons with Disabilities', which was a dedicated survey conducted by MoSPI during July-December 2018 to collect detailed information on this specific aspect. Since the primary focus of NFHS is maternal and child health and other associated questions, the dedicated survey of NSS, gave a better coverage of disability prevalence, having elaborate indicators on disability as compared to NFHS-5. Therefore, based on data collection for a few parameters on disability in NFHS, it is not possible to adequately capture the all-India extent of disability and will significantly underestimate the prevalence of disability.

On the above grounds, the TAC and other high-level Committees for NFHS-6 decided for non-inclusion of disability-related questions in NFHS-6. The MoHFW received various representations from disability activists through MoSJE, letters from National Human Rights Commission etc. regarding inclusion of disability related questions in NFHS-6 which were duly addressed by the Ministry.

***