National Family Health Survey-6 (NFHS-6)

The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) on 29th May released the National Family Health Survey-6 (NFHS-6), highlighting significant improvements in maternal and child healthcare, nutrition, immunisation coverage and financial protection across the country during 2023-24. It was conducted by the MoHFW with the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai, as the nodal agency.

Key Highlights

Improvement in Maternal Healthcare

• Institutional deliveries increased from 88.6% in NFHS-5 (2019-21) to 90.6% in NFHS-6.
• Antenatal care (ANC) coverage rose from 92.6% to 95.9%.
• Mothers receiving ANC during the first trimester increased from 70% to 76.2%.
• Women receiving at least four ANC visits increased from 58.5% to 65.2%.

The government attributed these gains to schemes such as Janani Suraksha Yojana, Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram, Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan.

Progress in Child Immunisation

• Full immunisation coverage among children aged 12–23 months increased from 83.8% to 87.1%.
• More than 96% of children received at least one vaccine.
• 95.6% of vaccinations were administered through public health facilities.

The Ministry credited stronger frontline healthcare systems, improved cold-chain infrastructure and the digital vaccination tracking platform U-WIN for these improvements.

Better Child Nutrition Outcomes

NFHS-6 recorded notable improvements in child nutrition indicators:

• Stunting among children under five declined from 35.5% to 29.3%.
• Severe wasting reduced from 7.7% to 5.2%.
• Underweight prevalence declined marginally from 32.1% to 31.8%.
• Children aged 6–8 months receiving complementary feeding alongside breastfeeding increased from 45.9% to 59.5%. .

These gains have been linked to initiatives such as:

• POSHAN Abhiyaan
• Saksham Anganwadi
• POSHAN 2.0
• National Health Mission

Family Planning and Fertility Trends

• India’s Total Fertility Rate (TFR) remained stable at 2.0, close to replacement level fertility.
• The Contraceptive Prevalence Rate increased from 66.7% to 69.1%.

Expansion of Health Insurance Coverage

• Household health insurance coverage rose significantly from 41% to 60.2%.
• The expansion has been largely supported by Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) and other health protection programmes.

Women’s Empowerment and Digital Inclusion

• Women who had ever used the internet nearly doubled from 33.3% to 64.3%.
• Women operating their own bank accounts increased from 78.6% to 89%.

Source: PIB