Kerala tops health rankings; UP, Bihar worst performers: NITI Aayog report

New Delhi: Kerala took the top spot among larger states for overall performance on health indicators in a NITI Aayog report, followed by Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, while Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Odisha languish at the bottom. Haryana, Rajasthan and Jharkhand showed the maximum improvement of health outcomes from base to reference year in indicators such as neonatal mortality rate, under-five mortality rate, proportion of low birth weight among newborns, proportion of community health centres and public health centres with quality accreditation certificates, full immunization coverage, institutional deliveries, and proportion of specialist positions vacant at district hospitals. The report highlighted a decline in the overall health index score of the five empowered action group states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, and Odisha because of deterioration in various parameters. “In Bihar, the deterioration between the base year and the reference year was primarily because of the performance related to total fertility rate, low birth weight, sex ratio at birth, tuberculosis treatment success rate, quality accreditation of public health facilities, and the time taken for NHM fund transfer,” the report said.