Kerala, Punjab, Tamil Nadu rank on top in NITI Aayog's health report for India

Key highlights:

• Jharkhand, J&K and Uttar Pradesh showed maximum gains in improvement of health outcomes
• Among smaller states, Mizoram ranked first followed by Manipur on overall performance
• Manipur registered maximum incremental progress on indicators 

In the first ever attempt of NITI Aayog to measure and understand the heterogeneity and complexity of the nation’s performance in health, Kerala, Punjab and Tamil Nadu ranked on top in terms of overall performance, while Jharkhand, Jammu & Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh emerged as the top three ranking states in terms of annual incremental performance. 

Jharkhand, Jammu & Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh showed the maximum gains in improvement of health outcomes from base to reference year in indicators such as Neonatal Mortality Rate (NMR), Under-five Mortality Rate (U5MR), full immunization coverage, institutional deliveries, and People Living with HIV (PLHIV) on Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART), said the NITI Aayog statement today.

Among smaller states, Mizoram ranked first followed by Manipur on overall performance, while Manipur followed by Goa were the top ranked states in terms of annual incremental performance. 

Manipur registered maximum incremental progress on indicators such as PLHIV on ART, first trimester antenatal care (ANC) registration, grading quality parameters of Community Health Centres (CHCs), average occupancy of key State-level officers and good reporting on the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP), according to the statement.

Among UTs, Lakshadweep showed both the best overall performance as well as the highest annual incremental performance. Lakshadweep showed the highest improvement in indicators such as institutional deliveries, tuberculosis (TB) treatment success rate, and transfer of National Health Mission (NHM) funds from state treasury to implementation agency.

The Health Index report notes that while states and UTs that start at lower levels of development are generally at an advantage in notching up incremental progress over states with high Health Index scores, it is a challenge for states with high Index scores to even maintain their performance levels, NITI Aayog said. 

"For example, Kerala ranks on top in terms of overall performance but sees the least incremental change as it had already achieved a low level of Neonatal Mortality Rate (NMR) and Under-five Mortality Rate (U5MR) and replacement level fertility, leaving limited space for any further improvements," the report said.

However, the incremental measurement reveals that about one-third of the states have registered a decline in their performance in 2016 as compared to 2015, stressing the need to pursue domain-specific, targeted interventions. 

Common challenges for most states and UTs include the need to focus on addressing vacancies in key staff, establishment of functional district Cardiac Care Units (CCUs), quality accreditation of public health facilities and institutionalization of Human Resources Management Information System (HRMIS). 

Additionally, almost all larger states need to focus on improving the sex ratio at birth (SRB), the report said.

Linking this index to incentives under the National Health Mission by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare underlines the importance of such an exercise. 

The report also notes that there is an urgent need to improve data systems in the health sector, in terms of terms of representativeness of the priority areas, periodic availability for all states and UTs, and completeness for private sector service delivery. 

This index is expected to nudge states towards further achieving a rapid transformation of their health systems and population health outcomes.

The NITI Aayog's comprehensive Health Index report titled, “Healthy States, Progressive India” was jointly released by the CEO, NITI Aayog, Amitabh Kant, Secretary, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Preeti Sudan, and World Bank India Country Director, Junaid Ahmad, at a function in the capital today. 

The report ranks states and Union territories innovatively on their year-on-year incremental change in health outcomes, as well as, their overall performance with respect to each other.