The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) is an India-wide survey conducted by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

, with the International Institute for Population Sciences serving as the nodal agency.

History

In 1992-93, the first round of the National Family Health Survey was conducted in three phases. The main objective of the survey was to collect reliable and up-to-date information on

fertility Fertility is the capability to produce offspring through reproduction following the onset of sexual maturity. The fertility rate is the average number of children born by a female during her lifetime and is quantified demographically. Fertili ...

family planning Family planning is the consideration of the number of children a person wishes to have, including the choice to have no children, and the age at which they wish to have them. Things that may play a role on family planning decisions include marita ...

mortality Mortality is the state of being mortal, or susceptible to death; the opposite of immortality. Mortality may also refer to: * Fish mortality, a parameter used in fisheries population dynamics to account for the loss of fish in a fish stock throug ...

, and maternal and

child health Pediatric nursing is part of the nursing profession, specifically revolving around the care of neonates and children up to adolescence. The word, ''pediatrics'', comes from the Greek words 'paedia' (child) and 'iatrike' (physician). 'Paediatrics' i ...

. Subsequently, four other rounds conducted between 1998 to 2015. The latest being NFHS 5 that started in 2019, however, was stalled amid the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

associated lockdown. Eventually, the NFHS-5 findings were released in December 2020. Based on these findings, the

ministry Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian ...

has set up a technical expert group to improve indicators pertaining to

Malnutrition Malnutrition occurs when an organism gets too few or too many nutrients, resulting in health problems. Specifically, it is "a deficiency, excess, or imbalance of energy, protein and other nutrients" which adversely affects the body's tissues a ...

, Stunting,

Anaemia Anemia or anaemia (British English) is a blood disorder in which the blood has a reduced ability to carry oxygen due to a lower than normal number of red blood cells, or a reduction in the amount of hemoglobin. When anemia comes on slowly, th ...

, and C-Section.

List of surveys

* National Family Health Survey-1 (1992-93) * National Family Health Survey-2 (1998-99) * National Family Health Survey-3 (2005-2006) * National Family Health Survey-4 (2015-2016) * National Family Health Survey-5 (2019-2021) (''latest'')

References

Cohort studies Indian Council of Medical Research Medical Council of India {{Health-stub