STATE HEALTH INDEX

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NITI Aayog released the fourth edition of the State Health Index for 2019–20.

The Report

The State Health Index is annual tool to assess the performance of states and UTs on their year-on-year incremental performance in health outcomes as well as their overall status. The index is being compiled and published since 2017.
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’.
This particular edition focuses on measuring and highlighting the overall performance and incremental improvement of states and UTs over the period 2018–19 to 2019–20.

Developed by

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).

Findings of the latest edition

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.

Significance of the Report

The reports aim to nudge states/UTs towards building robust health systems and improving service delivery.
States can take cognizance of indices such as the State Health Index and use them in their policymaking and resource allocation.
The index encourages healthy competition and cross-learning among States and UTs.
This report is an example of both competitive and cooperative federalism.