Overview of National Family Health Survey 3
National Family Health 3 is the third survey in the series, and it was conducted from 2005-2006. It is like NFHS 1 and 2 in that it is designed to collect important information about children, women, nutrition, mortality rate, reproductive health, and so on. NFHS-3 was also designed to provide information about family education, sexual behaviors, tuberculosis, and malaria. Women aged 15-49 and all men aged 15-54 were interviewed in the NFHS-3. Another important topic covered in NFHS-3 is the testing of adults for HIV. The NFHS-3 provided an estimate of the prevalence of HIV in the population, as well as separate reports for a few states. The National Family Health Survey-3 was conducted in all 29 states, involving more than 99% of the population. Individual reports for slum and non-slum areas in the country were also provided by the National Family Health Survey-3. The ministry choose the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) in Mumbai to provide technical guidance and coordination for NFHS-3.
The National Family Health Survey 3 was funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), DFID, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, UNICEF, UNFPA, and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Macro International, USA, provided technical support for the entire NFHS-3. Furthermore, NACO and the National AIDS Research Institute (NARI) provided technical support for the NFHS-3’s HIV components.
As previously stated, the health surveys were carried out in the form of questionnaires, allowing authorities to collect all relevant information without leaving anything out. The questionnaire for the NFHS-3 was uniform, available in 18 different languages, and used biomarker measurements so that the comparison with the old data can be made error-free.
Objectives of NFHS 3:
- The NFHS-3 had two major goals in each round and they are to provide clear information about health and family welfare issues and to provide important data on health and family welfare.
- The results of the two goals will assist the Ministry of India in developing policies that will benefit the country’s most disadvantaged people groups.
- Learn about parental mortality, male involvement in family discussions, and sexual behaviors.
- To learn more about injections, viral diseases, tuberculosis, and malaria.
- Another major goal is to collect data on the prevalence of HIV at the national level by collecting blood samples from men and women aged 15 to 54 and 15 to 49.
National Family Health Survey (NFHS-1 to NFHS-5)
The National Family Health Survey is a massive survey that takes place all over the country and the main goal of this survey is to collect key information about families in India that will help the Ministry of India design policies that will benefit the country’s most backward people groups. The National Family Health Survey began in 1992 and is the first round of the survey. Four additional surveys have been conducted to date, the most recent being the National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS 5) which began in 2018-2019 but is not finished yet due to the COVID -19 lockdown situations in the country.