Niti Aayog health index 2021

• NITI Aayog released the fourth edition of the State Health Index for 2019–20.
• The report, titled “Healthy States, Progressive India”, ranks states and Union Territories on their year-on-year incremental performance in health outcomes as well as their overall status.
• Round IV of the report focuses on measuring and highlighting the overall performance and incremental improvement of states and UTs over the period 2018–19 to 2019–20.

Niti Aayog’s health index

• It is a weighted composite score incorporating 24 indicators covering key aspects of health performance.
• The index is being compiled and published since 2017.
• The reports aim to nudge states/UTs towards building robust health systems and improving service delivery.
• The Health Index score is prepared based on States’ performance across a large set of indicators that are divided into three broad domains — health outcomes, governance and information, and key inputs and processes.
• Each domain has been assigned weights based on its importance with higher score for outcome indicators.
• The report was divided in three parts - larger states, smaller states and union territories. Among the smaller states, Mizoram was the best performer and Nagaland was at the bottom.
• Data is collected online through a portal maintained by NITI on agreed indicators.
• The data is then validated through an independent validation agency selected through a transparent bidding process.
• The validated data sheets are shared with the states for verification.

Findings

• Among the ‘Larger States’, in terms of annual incremental performance, Uttar Pradesh, Assam and Telangana are the top three ranking states.
• Among ‘Smaller States’, Mizoram and Meghalaya registered the maximum annual incremental progress.
• Among UTs, Delhi, followed by Jammu and Kashmir, showed the best incremental performance.
• On overall ranking based on the composite index score in 2019–20, the top-ranking states were Kerala and Tamil Nadu among the ‘Larger States’, Mizoram and Tripura among the ‘Smaller States’, and DH&DD and Chandigarh among the UTs.