NITI Aayog’s State Health Index

Table of Contents

State Health Index- Relevance for UPSC Exam

GS Paper 2: Governance, Administration and Challenges– Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health.

Recently, NITI Aayog released the fourth edition of the State Health Index for 2019–20.
focuses on measuring and highlighting the overall performance and incremental improvement of states and UTs over the period 2018–19 to 2019–20.

Background: The State Health Index is an annual tool to assess the performance of states and UTs. The State Health Index has been compiled and published since 2017.
About: State Health Index ranks states and Union Territories on their year-on-year incremental performance in health outcomes as well as their overall status.
Agencies Involved: State Health Index report has been developed by NITI Aayog, with technical assistance from the World Bank, and in close consultation with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).
Key Objective: The State Health report aims to nudge states/UTs towards building robust health systems and improving service delivery.
Assessment Indicators: State Health Index is a weighted composite index based on 24 indicators grouped under the domains of-
- ‘Health Outcomes’,
- ‘Governance and Information, and
- ‘Key Inputs/Processes’.
Categorization: To ensure comparison among similar entities, the State Health Index ranking is categorized as ‘Larger States’, ‘Smaller States’ and ‘Union Territories’.

Fourth edition of State Health Index: State Health Index for 2019-20 focuses on measuring and highlighting the overall performance and incremental improvement of states and UTs over the period 2018–19 to 2019–20.
State Health Index theme: State Health Index for 2019–20 report has been titled “Healthy States, Progressive India”.

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

The State Health Index can be used by states in their policymaking and resource allocation.
State Health Index report is an example of both competitive and cooperative federalism.
- The State Health index encourages healthy competition and cross-learning among States and UTs.
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has also decided to link the State Health index to incentives under National Health Mission.
- This has been instrumental in shifting the focus from budget spending and inputs to outputs and outcomes.