Assam recognised as most improved performer in NITI Aayog State Health Index, 2019–20

Dec. 27: NITI Aayog has come up with its Fourth Edition of State Health Index. Maximum annual incremental performance shown by UP, Assam and Telangana among ‘Larger States’; Mizoram & Meghalaya among ‘Smaller States’; Delhi and J&K among ‘UTs’. Assam has been recognised as the Most Improved performer in NITI Aayog  State Health Index, 2019–20. Expressing delight, Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma wrote, “Our efforts to transform Assam into a developed state have started bearing fruits. With people’s cooperation & hard work, we’ll surely set new milestones.”

The report, titled “Healthy States, Progressive India”, ranks states and Union Territories on their year-on-year incremental performance in health outcomes as well as their overall status. Round IV of the report focuses on measuring and highlighting the overall performance and incremental improvement of states and UTs over the period 2018–19 to 2019–20.

Our efforts to transform Assam into a developed state have started bearing fruits.
Proud to share that our state has been recognised as the Most Improved performer in @NITIAayog State Health Index, 2019–20.
With people's cooperation & hard work, we'll surely set new milestones. pic.twitter.com/RceoXmD10E

— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) December 27, 2021

The report was released jointly by NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Dr Rajiv Kumar, CEO Amitabh Kant, Additional Secretary Dr Rakesh Sarwal, and World Bank Senior Health Specialist Sheena Chhabra. The 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).

The Findings:

The State Health Index is annual tool to assess the performance of states and UTs. It is a weighted composite index based on 24 indicators grouped under the domains of ‘Health Outcomes’, ‘Governance and Information’, and ‘Key Inputs/Processes’. Each domain has been assigned weights based on its importance with higher score for outcome indicators.

To ensure comparison among similar entities, the ranking is categorized as ‘Larger States’, ‘Smaller States’ and ‘Union Territories’.

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