Infant mortality dropped, anaemia, malnutrition rate high

NEW DELHI: Women are having fewer children and infant mortality has dropped in the country, but anaemia and malnutrition are still widespread among children and adults, a much-awaited government report released today said.

The National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3), whose final report was released here, also said more adults, especially urban women, are overweight or obese than seven years ago when the second survey was conducted in 1998-99.
  
Giving a comprehensive picture of the health of the country, the report for the first time measured HIV prevalence at the national level and for selected states.
  
It found that an HIV prevalence rate of 0.28 per cent for the population age 15-49. "Only 84 per cent of men and 61 per cent of women have ever heard of AIDS. Also only 70 per cent of men and 36 per cent of women know that HIV/AIDS can be prevented by using condoms," it said.
   
The survey also spurred government and international agencies to greatly reduce the official estimate of Indians living with HIV from more than five million people to 2.47 million.
    
The survey, conducted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, which designated to carry the survey to the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai, also found half of women lack proper care during pregnancy and delivery, while they marry at the age of 17.

"Infant mortality continues to decline, dropping from 68 to 57 per thousand births," it said.
   
Malnutrition also continued to be a significant problem for children and adults, while 70 per cent children in the age group 6-59 months suffer from anaemia, it said.
   
The NFHS-3 survey also said 40 per cent of married women experienced physical or sexual violence.

The NFHS-3 survey also found that there was only a small improvement in full vaccination coverage, with 44 per cent of children in the age of 12-23 months receiving all recommended vaccinations, up from 42 per cent seven years ago.

Though, all adults agree that children should be taught moral values in school and also that children should learn about the changes that occur in their bodies during puberty, men and women differ somewhat on whether children should be taught in school about contraception.
   
The NFHS-3 is the third of the series of surveys. The first one was conducted in 1992-93, that provided information on population, health and nutrition in India and each of its 29 states.

A total of 124,385 women in the age group of 15-49 years and 74,369 men in the age group of 15-54 were interviewed for the survey.
   
Based on a sample of households, the NFHS-3 fieldwork was conducted in two phases by 18 research organisations between November 2005 and August 2006.
   
"Now that we are armed with the latest scientific evidence from NFHS-3, we are in a powerful position to move forward with more effective policies and programmes to improve the health and welfare of our people," said the Mission Director of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), G C Chaturvedi.

But introducing a word of caution, Ashok Alexander, the Director of India AIDS Initiative, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, said one should not wait for another NFHS to see how we are doing in these key indicators.
  
"Caution is necessary in the areas where we are making slow progress," he said, citing anti-natal care and breast feeding as the areas where more emphasis needs to be given.