Uttar Pradesh came out as a top performer in terms of incremental health performance in the group of larger states, while Mizoram put forth an exceptional performance in the smaller states category, according to the fourth Health Index report released by Niti Aayog.
The fourth round of the Health Index took 2019-20 as a reference year.
Notably, “The Health Index Round for 2019-20 does not capture the impact of Covid-19 on health outcomes or any of the other indicators as the Index Performance relates to Base Year (2018-19) and Reference Year (2019-20), largely the pre-Covid-19 period,” the report said.
“Uttar Pradesh ranked at the top in terms of incremental performance by registering the highest incremental change from the base year (2018-19) to reference year (2019-20),” the report said.
It further added that from the base year (2018-19) to the reference year (2019-20), Uttar Pradesh improved its performance in 33 out of 43 indicators/sub-indicators.
Interestingly, despite showing a significant incremental change, UP stood at the bottom 4 ranks, followed by Bihar, MP and Jharkhand.
“On the other hand, Kerala showed improvement in only 19 indicators, and additionally had three indicators in the category of fully achieved,” the report said.
Overall, Kerala topped the index; but for about fifty percent indicators/sub-indicators, Kerala’s performance either worsened or remained stagnant, the report added.
According to the report by the government think tank, the maximum incremental performance in a year is shown by Uttar Pradesh, Assam and Telangana in the larger states category, while Mizoram and Meghalaya performed better in smaller states segments, and Delhi and J&K in the UTs category.
According to the report, the health index is a weighted composite score that counts 24 indicators that covers essential components of health performance.
The indicators are judged under 3 domains — health outcomes, governance and information, and key inputs and processes.
The health index report has been prepared with an association with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) with technical assistance provided by the World Bank.