Owing to the sustained efforts of the Uttar Pradesh government in promoting the health of children and infants, the state has witnessed substantial improvement in maternal and child health indicators as revealed by the NFHS-5 (National Family Health Survey-5) released recently.

“Prior to 2017, when thousands of children used to succumb to diseases such as encephalitis, the NFHS report has revealed that Uttar Pradesh is leading in many areas and that figures have improved as compared to the previous surveys”, UP Health Minister JP Singh said in Lucknow on Friday.

Singh said that while the number of malnourished children was decreasing, there was a significant increase in vaccination.

“In a major boost to the health and medical facilities under the present Yogi Adityanath regime, full immunisation coverage in Uttar Pradesh has gone up from 51.1 per cent to 69.6 per cent. The number of children between the ages of 12 and 13 months who have been fully vaccinated has increased from 51.1 per cent (NFHS-4) to 69 per cent (NFHS-V),” he said.

The health minister said that the data of the Family Health Survey-5 was testimony to the fact that Uttar Pradesh had improved more than the national standard.

“The number of women affected by anemia has come down by 5.1 per cent, whereas at the national level it is 1.8 per cent. The state has recorded a decrease of 7.4 per cent in cases of underweight children as compared to the national figures which stand at 3.7 per cent,” he said

“Due to the relentless efforts of the state government, UP has shown considerable progress in the National Family Health Survey-5. In the last four and a half years, the government has launched and implemented various special schemes to enhance the health of children. All these schemes have paid off at the grassroots level, as a result of which the graph of children from breastfeeding to their vaccination has increased. The breastfeeding rate of six-month-old children in the state has increased from 41.6 per cent to 59.7 per cent. The general immunisation rate of children has also jumped from 51.1 per cent to 69.6 per cent. Awareness regarding the health of children has also increased among the people of the state,” the health minister said.

Singh further informed, “As a result of planned and phased strategy, there has been a 75 per cent reduction in meningitis-like diseases and a 95 per cent reduction in deaths due to this disease, which has killed thousands of children over the years. The Gorakhpur division has also gained an appreciation for the control of infectious diseases at the national and international levels.”