State Health Index: NITI Aayog

Why in News?

Recently, NITI Aayog released the fourth edition of the State Health Index for 2019–20.
The report, titled “Healthy States, Progressive India”.

It is an annual tool to assess the performance of states and Union Territories(UTs) and has been compiled and published since 2017.
It ranks states and Union Territories on their year-on-year incremental performance in health outcomes as well as their overall status.
It 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).
Domains: 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 the higher scores for outcome indicators.
Health outcomes, for instance, includes parameters such as neonatal mortality rate, under-5 mortality rate, the sex ratio at birth.
Governance includes parameters such as institutional deliveries, average occupancy of senior officers in key posts earmarked for health.
The‘ key inputs’ domain consists of the proportion of shortfall in health care providers to what is recommended, functional medical facilities, birth and death registration and tuberculosis treatment success rate.
Aims: To nudge states/UTs towards building robust health systems and improving service delivery.
This has been instrumental in shifting the focus from budget spending and inputs to outputs and outcomes.

The ranking is categorized as ‘The Larger States’, ‘Smaller States’ and ‘Union Territories’ to ensure comparison among similar entities.
Among the ‘Larger States’, in terms of annual incremental performance, Uttar Pradesh, Assam and Telangana are the top three ranking states.

FACTS FOR PRELIMS:

He was born in 1931 in Klerksdorp, Transvaal. His father was a teacher, and he himself was educated at Johannesburg Bantu High School and in 1954 he graduated from the University of South Africa.

He worked as a teacher and recalled how the system of educating blacks infuriated him.
He quit teaching in 1957 to join the church and was ordained as a priest in 1961.
In 1975 he was appointed Dean of St. Mary’s Cathedral in Johannesburg, the first black to hold that position.
He was named the first Black Archbishop of Cape Town in 1986.
He is an honorary doctor of a number of leading universities in the USA, Britain and Germany.

He is regarded as a contemporary anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela and became the face of the moment outside the country.
He was one of the driving forces behind the movement to end racial segregation and discrimination by the white minority government in South Africa from 1948 till the year 1991.
He spearheaded grassroots campaigns around the world that fought against apartheid.
He has been regarded as an outspoken human rights activist who highlighted and spoke out on a range of issues around the world including climate change, Israel-Palestine conflict, among others.

Recently, the Prime Minister of India praised a Goan artist’s efforts to revive the centuries-old Kaavi art form.

It is a form of painting on the inner and outer walls of the sacred spaces.
It covers the ancient history of India in itself.
Actually, ‘Kaava’ means red soil. In ancient times, red clay was used in this art.
It is found in the Konkan region of the country, especially in temples of Goa, Maharashtra and Karnataka.
During the Portuguese rule in Goa, people who migrated from there introduced the people of other states to this wonderful painting form.