National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) 2019-21: Madhya Pradesh

In Madhya Pradesh, around 73 per cent of households surveyed were located in rural areas. Of all the households surveyed, 45 per cent lived in a pucca house and 98 per cent had electricity, the report notes.

As high as 26 per cent of households in Madhya Pradesh (33 per cent in rural areas and seven per cent in urban areas) did not have any sanitation facilities. Around 78.4 per cent households in the state had access to basic drinking water services but only 28 per cent had water piped into their homes.

The preschool attendance among children between the ages of 2-4 years was around 25 per cent in the state. School attendance among students between the ages of 6-14 years was 90 per cent and dropped to 55 per cent among students aged 15-17 years.

According to the report, 23 per cent of women in Madhya Pradesh between the ages of 20 to 24 years had married before the legal minimum age of 18 years.

The contraceptive prevalence rate among currently married women (aged 15-49 years) was 72 per cent, a substantial rise from the NFHS-4 record of 51.4 per cent. Around 66 per cent of the women surveyed used modern contraceptive methods.

The infant mortality rate was recorded to be around 41 deaths (before the age of one year) per 1,000 live births. This is a decrease from the NFHS-4 estimate of 51 deaths per 1,000 live births. The under-five mortality rate also reduced from around 65 deaths (before the age of five years) per 1,000 live births in NFHS-4 to 49 deaths per 1,000 live births in NFHS-5.

As per the report, almost 91 per cent of births, in the five years before the survey, took place in a health facility and the remaining nine per cent took place at home. A total of 89.3 per cent of births were delivered by a skilled provider – doctor, nurse, midwife, auxiliary nurse midwife or lady health visitor – and four per cent were delivered by a traditional birth attendant.

According to the survey conducted, around 77 per cent of the children (aged 12-23 months) had received all the basic vaccinations against major diseases including tuberculosis, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio and measles. Only 3.6 per cent children in this age group had not received any vaccinations.

Between NFHS-4 and NFHS-5, the percentage of children in Madhya Pradesh who were stunted (too short for their age) reduced from 42 to 36 per cent and the percentage of children who were wasted (too thin for their height) declined from 26 to 19 per cent. However, almost 73 per cent of the children (aged 6-59 months) in the state were anaemic.

The report notes that 54.7 per cent of women and 22.5 per cent of men (aged 15-49 years) suffer from anaemia.

Only 38 per cent of the households in Madhya Pradesh had any kind of health insurance or financing scheme that covered at least one member of the household.

A high percentage of women (84.6 per cent) and men (91.4 per cent) in the state have heard of HIV/AIDS. However, only 18.7 per cent women and 26.2 per cent men had ‘comprehensive knowledge’ of it.

Around 61 per cent of women between the ages of 15-24 years used hygienic methods of menstrual protection. Almost half (49.5 per cent) of the women used sanitary napkins, 11.5 per cent used locally prepared napkins, 1.2 per cent used tampons and 0.6 per cent used menstrual cups.

During the 12 months preceding the survey, 83 per cent of men and 35 per cent of women (aged 15-49 years) were employed. Also, as per the findings, almost 75 per cent of the women in Madhya Pradesh have their own bank or savings accounts which they themselves use.

In the state, around 28 per cent of women (aged 18 to 49 years) had experienced either physical or sexual violence, whereas five per cent reported having experienced both. Only 15 per cent of the women who had experienced such violence sought help.

Focus and Factoids by Anushka Mukherjee.

PARI Library's health archive project is part of an initiative supported by the Azim Premji University to develop a free-access repository of health-related reports relevant to rural India.