Source: NITI Ayog
The National Development Agenda unanimously agreed to by all the State Chief Ministers and the Lieutenant Governors of Union Territories (UTs) in 2015 had inter alia identified education, health, nutrition, women and children as priority sectors requiring urgent action. To fulfill the National Development Agenda, it is imperative to make rapid improvement in these sectors. India, along with other countries, has also committed itself to adopting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all as part of the new global sustainable development agenda to be fulfilled by 2030.
As the nodal agency responsible for charting India’s quest for attaining the commitments under the SDGs, the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog) has been mandated with transforming India by exercising thought leadership and by promoting co-operative and competitive federalism, among the Governments of States and UTs to rapidly improve outcomes. It is in this context that NITI Aayog had spearheaded the Health Index initiative in 2017 to measure the annual performance of States and UTs on a variety of indicators – Health Outcomes, Governance and Information and Key Inputs/Processes.
Aim
To promote a co-operative and competitive spirit amongst the States and UTs to rapidly bring about transformative action in achieving the desired health outcomes
Objective
To release a composite Health Index based on key health outcomes and other health systems and service delivery indicators and generate Health Index scores and rankings for different categories of the States and UTs based on incremental performance and overall performance.
About Health Index-2019
The index analyses overall performance and incremental improvement in the States and the Union Territories for the period with 2015-16 as the base year and 2017-18 as the reference year.
Who compiles NHI?
NITI Aayog in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) and with technical assistance from the World It is the second edition of the Index
Performace of the states
- Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have shown no improvement in health status.
- While Kerala remains the healthiest State in India, Uttar Pradesh remains the most unhealthy.
Some states such as Rajasthan have improved their health status, but what is worrisome is that States such as Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar have not improved at all. Following are the tables which can be referred to asses the performance of the states and UTs;
