Prelims: Current events of national and international importance | Health
Why in News?
Recently, National Family Health Survey‑6 has reported improvements in maternal and child health indicators but also highlighted a rise in lifestyle‑related diseases among adults.
Maternal and Child Health Gains
- Institutional Deliveries – Rose from 88.6% (NFHS‑5) to 90.6% (NFHS‑6).
- Antenatal Care – Coverage at 95.9%.
- Mothers with ≥4 check‑ups increased from 58.5% - 65.2%.
- Skilled Birth Attendance – Improved from 89.4% - 91.3%.
- Family Planning –
- Contraceptive prevalence rate up from 66.7% - 69.1%.
- Unmet need declined from 9.4% - 8.5%.
- Fertility – Total Fertility Rate stable at 2.0 (below replacement level 2.1).
- Immunisation –
- Full immunisation (12–23 months) – 83.8% - 87.1%.
- Measles 2nd dose – 58.6% - 71.8%.
- Rotavirus vaccine – 36.4% - 85.4%.
- Nutrition –
- Stunting among under‑5 children declined 35.5% - 29.3%;
- Severe wasting reduced 7.7% - 5.2%.
Lifestyle Disease Concerns
- Overweight/Obesity (15–49 yrs)
- Women – 30.7%
- Men – 27.3%.
- Diabetes (15+ yrs)
- Women – 13.5% - 17.8%
- Men – 15.6% - 20.9%.
- Hypertension – Modest decline among both sexes.

Reference
DD India | NFHS-6