(a) the details of improvement in healthcare services in the country as a result of the
National Family Health Survey-II and III;
(b) the details of areas especially in the West Bengal where no improvement has been found to
be made after these surveys; and
(c) the efforts made by the Government to get the desired results in such areas?
THE MINISTER OF HEALTH & FAMILY WELFARE(SHRI GHULAM NABI AZAD)
(a) & (b): The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare conducts nation-wide surveys to assess the
impact of the health interventions from time to time. The National Family Health Survey (NFHS)
was conducted during 1992-93(NFHS-1), 1998-99 (NFHS-2) and 2005-06 (NFHS-3) and has captured
information on various indicators that have been refined across the surveys. The recent
National Family Health Survey-3 (NFHS-3) was conducted in the 29 States including West Bengal
and collected information on Mortality, Marriage & Fertility, Family Planning, Maternal and
Child Health, Immunization of children, child feeding practices, Nutritional status of children
and adult, prevalence of anemia among children and adults, obesity among men & women,
Knowledge, attitude and behaviour with regard to HIV/AIDS and its prevalence of Tuberculosis &
Malaria. The survey covered ever married and unmarried women in the age group 15-49 years and
men in the age group of 15-54 years. The key findings of the survey reveal that institutional
delivery and maternity care has improved, unmet need for the family planning has reduced, women
are having fewer children, infant mortality has dropped; overall immunization coverage of
children has improved and knowledge about HIV/AIDS has improved in the seven-year period since
the last NFHS survey (1998-99). The findings of District Level Household Survey conducted in
2007-08 also reveal further improvement in institutional delivery, child immunisation and
current usage of method of contraceptive use etc .
(c): The Government of India has taken various steps to address the gaps in the health sector
by framing appropriate programmes for improving maternal and child health care. Government
implemented the Reproductive and Child Health programme, which is in its second phase
(2005-10). This programme was integrated under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM),
launched in April 2005 which also covers key Disease Control Programmes like Revised National
Tuberculosis Control Programme, National Programme for Control of Blindness, National Leprosy
Eradication Programme, National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme etc. The National Rural
Health Mission seeks to provide accessible, affordable and quality health care to the rural
population, especially to the poor and the vulnerable sections of the population. It also seeks
to reduce Maternal Mortality Ratio, Infant Mortality Rate and the Total Fertility Rate by the
end of Mission period in 2012.The Mission seeks to provide accountable, effective, reliable and
quality primary health care through creation of a cadre of Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA), strengthening of Public Health Delivery System at all levels, improved hospital care,
provision of untied funds to all the facilities to enable local action, decentralization of
programme to district level to improve intra and inter-sectoral convergence and effective
utilization of resources. Flexibility has been given to the States to devise need based
Programme Implementation Plan (PIP). The Government in 2009 identified 235 districts in
the country for focussed planning including Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri, Dakshin Dinajpur,
Bankura, Purulia and Birbhum districts of West Bengal.