According to the authors, immunization is one of 11 key indicators of child survival and health. | Photo Credit: File photo
A team of Indian researchers – a Chennai-based economist and his two daughters, both medical professionals – have compiled the Child Survival and Health Index (CSHI) for Indian states and union territories using data from the National Family Health Survey.
KR Shanmugam, former director of the Madras School of Economics, said the idea behind developing the composite CSHI was to provide a platform to retrospectively and prospectively assess the performance of India and its various states. “While India aims to achieve developed nation status by 2047, it compares poorly on various child survival and health indicators, with significant regional disparities across the country. While aiming to reduce infant and under-5 mortality in line with the Sustainable Development Goals, overall and regional performance is effectively underperforming. Adequate monitoring systems are not available for assessment,’ the letter pointed out.
“Development of such an index will not only help us understand the government’s approach and capacity to meet its responsibilities for child health and survival, but also help us identify areas/areas where there are gaps,” said Dr. Shanmugam said. His daughters, Shakti Indra Shanmugam, an alumnus of Omdurar Government Medical College, and Mr. Karthik Shanumaga, a post-doctoral medical fellow at Columbia University in the US, provided health inputs to a paper recently published in Child Indicators Research., A peer-reviewed journal.
Recently, the National Institute for Transforming India (NITI Aayog) along with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the World Bank has started publishing an annual health index consisting of 24 indicators to track overall performance and incremental performance. of all Indian States and Union Territories. “While it considers some child health indicators, the focus is not only on child survival and health indicators,” Dr. Shanmugam said.
The authors selected 11 key indicators representing child survival and health: 3 from population and household profiles, 1 from infant/child mortality, maternal care, maternity care, childhood immunization and anemia, and 3 from child feeding practices. and nutritional status of children. Each parameter was assigned equal weight to enable comparisons.
Their assessment showed that India’s CSHI value increased from 0.49 to 0.52. In 4 years, pushing it into the best performing category. But if the current trend continues, it will take about 30 years for India to increase its CSHI value to 0.75 and reach the top spot. Of the 35 regions, 5 – Lakshadweep, Puducherry, Kerala and Andaman and Nicobar Islands – were classified as performing well, 25 as performing well, and 5 as performing poorly.
Dr. Shanmugam added that CSHI can also monitor the effectiveness of interventions, track changes in child health over time, and enable policymakers to formulate appropriate strategies to improve children’s health status.
published – December 20, 2024 at 11:37 pm IST