Overview of National Family Health Survey 4
The fourth survey in the series, National Family Health 4, was conducted in 2015-2016. It is like NFHS 1–3 in that it is intended to collect vital information about children, women, nutrition, mortality rates, reproductive health, and so on. In addition, NFHS-4 covers several new topics, such as the use of mosquito nets, malaria sprays, insurance, abortion rates, and women’s ownership of assets. The National Family Health Survey – 4 interviewed women aged 15-49 and men aged 15-54. Women aged 15-49, men aged 15-54, and young children were interviewed to learn about their nutritional status. A unique feature of the National Family Health Survey-4 is the collection of data on adults’ glucose levels, blood pressure, and HIV status. The National Family Health Survey – 4 is the first survey to collect data on glucose and blood pressure levels across the country. The National Family Health Survey – 4 covered all 29 Indian states and 7 Union Territories. The main difference between National Family Health Survey – 4 is that it is intended to provide key indicators on the whole.
The NFHS-4 questionnaire was uniform in design, available in 18 different languages, and used biomarker measurements to ensure error-free comparison with previous data. The questionnaire’s contents were determined in early 2013 after extensive research.
Objectives of NFHS 4:
- The main goal of the National Family Health Survey-4 is to provide a detailed report on health and family welfare, as well as new emerging issues.
- The clinical component of NFHS-4 was created to provide accurate information about malnutrition, hypertension, HIV, and glucose levels.
- Obtaining information on household population and housing characteristics such as hand washing, sanitation, schooling, and birth registrations.
- To collect information about respondents’ characteristics such as employment, occupation, and education.
- Obtain fertility information such as birth intervals, age of first birth, ideal family size, knowledge of family planning, and desire for another child.
- Other fertility-related information includes first sexual encounter, age of marriage, recent sexual activity, and pregnancy outcomes
- To obtain information about Maternal Health, such as Pregnancy Registration, Additional Care Coverage, Prenatal Ultrasound Testing, and Delivery Services.
- To collect data on nutrition in children, such as nutritional status, feeding practices, and food consumption in men and women.
- To learn more about morbidities and health care issues such as tuberculosis, tobacco use, health insurance coverage, and health-care problems.
- Women’s health is also one of the major objectives in the National Family Health Survey 4.
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.