National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-6
This time, the NFHS-6 is poised to be a groundbreaking milestone as it takes place under the sole leadership of the Government of India.
The NFHS-6 sample size is expected to encompass approximately 676,800 households in 371 districts.
Comtech IT Education Trust, a renowned data management and market research provider, has been entrusted with the critical task of conducting fieldwork in the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
To ensure the quality and reliability of the collected data, the NFHS-6 fieldwork will employ computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) on mini-notebook computers.
Height and weight measurements for women aged 15-49, men aged 15-54, and children under 5 years will be included, along with blood glucose and hypertension measurements.
Additionally, a subsample of respondents will provide finger-stick blood samples for laboratory testing of Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, and HIV.
The survey will sort out topics such as financial and digital inclusion of women, and COVID-19-related issues including infections, hospitalization, deaths, vaccination, and financial burdens.
Recent issues
The recent decision of the Union government to drop the disability-specific question from the NFHS-6 seems churlish and sends out wrong signals.
After years of campaigning for the same, the government added one question on disability in the NFHS-5.
As per the 2011 Census, about 2.68 crore people in India are disabled.
Ministry of Health and Family response:
The Ministry of Health and Family responded that questions about disability were already asked as part of the Sample Registration Survey (SRS) 76th round, conducted between July and December 2018, and that any specific information can be tabulated from the raw data, which is also available in the public domain.
It has also gone on record stating that disability data will ‘not change fast’.
While Health Ministry officials claim that the sole NFHS question on disability too resulted in under-reporting, that might actually be a function of training for field staff who ask the questions.
While gross data on disabilities will change marginally (but still be substantial given the numbers), the count of 6.1 lakh sample households that the NFHS relies on will make the data set truly representative.
The elaborate questions asked by NFHS will provide valuable specifics on the lives of the disabled;
While the SRS does a good job with marking the prevalence and incidence of disability, education level, living arrangements, care-givers, certificate of disability, accessibility and unemployment rate, among others.
The NFHS asks more comprehensive questions.
It seeks answers on health and nutrition status, access to health schemes, insurance, sexual behaviour, availability of family planning, use of contraception, domestic violence, household amenities and possessions, lifestyle indicators, and access to drinking water and toilets.
There is no doubt that the NFHS will yield better, more robust, data on the disability sector.
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