Quality data helps strategize area-specific interventions: Harsh Vardhan

Quality data is important to understand the needs and issues of the population and helps strategize area-specific interventions, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Wednesday, releasing the 14thNational Health Profile (NHP).

The NHP is prepared by the Central Bureau of Health Intelligence (CBHI) and covers comprehensive information on demographic, socio-economic health status, health finance indicators, health infrastructure and health of human resources in the country.

The 14thedition is the continuation of the publication of NHP since 2005.

Speaking at the event, Vardhan said data is an important source to understand the needs and issues of the population.

"It helps in understanding the goals, our strengths and weaknesses and is also an important means to strategize area-specific interventions. Good quality data enables policymakers to make evidence-based policies and aids effective implementation of various schemes," he said.

Vardhan also suggested that this document should be highly disseminated, so that more and more people who want to develop health interventions or programmes can utilise this data and come up with unique solutions and policy suggestions.

Health Secretary Preeti Sudan said data is not only important for understanding the health indicators but it also provides an opportunity to monitor the situation.

She said the National Health Profile2019 indicates that significant progress has been made in the country for various health outcomes, which is an encouraging sign.

The NHP highlights substantial health information under major indicators viz. demographic indicators (population and vital statistics), socio-economic indicators (education, employment, housing and amenities, drinking water and sanitation) and health status indicators (incidence and prevalence of common communicable and non-communicable diseases etc.

The health finance section provides an overview of health insurance and expenditure on health, both public and Out of Pocket Expenditure.

The section on human resources provides an overview of availability of manpower working in the health sector, while health infrastructure section provides details of Medical and Dental Colleges, AYUSH Institutes, Nursing Courses and Paramedical Courses.