Mon. May 13th, 2024
IN a major embarrassment to the state government, especially in the run-up to the state election, Karnataka’s health index ranking has dropped from 7th to 9th in 2015-16 compared to 2014-15, as per NITI Aayog Health Index rankings released for all states and Union territories in the country on Friday.

Negative Increment : 

Karnataka got a negative incremental score of -1.03 showing its decline in health indicators. Its score dropped from 59.73 to 58.70. As per NITI Aayog’s categorisation, the state was ranked among 21 large states, eight small states and seven Union territories.Ranking parameters : 

The states are ranked on parameters like neonatal mortality rate, under-five mortality, replacement-level fertility, full immunisation coverage, institutional deliveries and number of people living with HIV on anti-retroviral therapy among other indicators.
  •  In Low Birth Weight (<2.5 kg), the state witnessed a rise in proportion from 10.8 to 11.5.
  •  In sex ratio, too, the state has fared poorly with the number of girls to 1,000 boys dropping from 950 to 939 .
  • Not a single individual has been convicted for female foeticide in the state since the inception of the Act in the past 14 years.
  • Approximately 68 per cent of infant deaths in India occur during the neonatal period. In Karnataka, the NMR decreased from 20 to 19 in 2015-16 compared to 2014-15.
  • In Under 5 Mortality Rate (U5MR) reflecting probability of dying before the age of five, calculated per thousand births, Karnataka remained stagnant at 31 in 2015 as in 2014.

Increase in Immunisation coverage:

This indicator reflects upon the success of the immunisation programme and captures the proportion of infants between ages of 9-11 months who have received one dose of BCG, three doses of DPT, three of OPV, and one dose of measles vaccine. Karnataka’s immunisation coverage increased from 92.3 per cent in 2014 to 96.2 per cent in 2015.

Kerala has emerged as the best state in the country in terms of healthcare performance, reveals a latest Health Index report, jointly prepared by the World Bank and Niti Aayog. Kerala was followed by Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. While Uttar Pradesh has shown large improvement in healthcare outcome, it was still ranked at bottom of the Health Index report, place behind Rajasthan and Bihar. “Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir and UP showed the maximum gains in improvement of health outcomes from base (2014-15) to reference year (2015-16).

By himani