Health Index Report of Covid Year: Kerala and Tamil Nadu Top Performers

 The southern states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana emerged as the top performers among the larger states in the NITI Aayog’s annual health index for the Covid year of 2020-21. Among the smaller states, Tripura ranked the highest, while Delhi ranked at the bottom among the Union territories.

Health Index Report by NITI Aayog: Key Points

• The NITI Aayog, in collaboration with the Union Health Ministry and World Bank, launched the annual health index in 2017.
• This index evaluates the performance of states and Union territories based on a weighted composite score that incorporates 24 health performance indicators.
• Although the fifth health index report for 2020-21 was scheduled to be released by December 2022, it has not been made public yet.
• The NITI Aayog is said to have shared the report, titled “Healthy States Progressive India Report on the Ranks of States and Union Territories,” with the Health Ministry.
• The health index evaluates the performance of states and UTs based on two factors: year-on-year progress and overall performance. The states and UTs are categorized as ‘larger states’, ‘smaller states’, and UTs, and then ranked according to their scores.
• Among the 19 ‘larger states’, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana have emerged as the top three performers in terms of overall performance, securing first, second, and third positions respectively. On the other hand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh are positioned at the bottom of the list, ranking 19th, 18th, and 17th respectively.
• Regarding incremental performance, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, and Odisha have shown the greatest improvement in 2020-21 compared to their performance in 2019-20, making them the top three performers in this category.