Phase 6 of Lok Sabha polls: Health insurance a key goal for constituencies

The sixth and penultimate phase of general elections will see voting in 58 constituencies on Saturday. Millions will queue up with hope of a better future, and improved living standards.  
 

But over half of these constituencies situated across seven states and union territories are off-target on 16 of the 33 sustainable development goals (SDGs) to be achieved by 2030, including indicators such as, health insurance, anaemia, child marriage, and clean fuel for cooking, according to a Business Standard analysis of data from a study.

Titled ‘Call for action: presenting constituency-level data on population, health and socioeconomic wellbeing related to 2030 Sustainable Development Goals for India’, the study appeared in the academic journal The Lancet in February 2024. 

Authors of the study are SV Subramanian, Amar Patnaik and Rockli Kim.

Health insurance among women is a prominent challenge, with all constituencies failing to meet the target. In regards to health insurance among men, 96.5 per cent of constituencies are off-target. A similar share lags on ownership of mobile phones by women (chart 1). 

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Off-target are those that haven’t met the goals by 2021 and will not achieve them by 2030 due to limited or deteriorating change between 2016 and 2021.

Conversely, on-target are those constituencies that have not met the goal but are likely to achieve by 2030 due to positive change between 2016 and 2021.  

Lalganj (SC) in Uttar Pradesh had the lowest proportion of women with health insurance at 1.8 per cent, based on the analysis of the National Family Health Survey 2019-21 (NFHS-5) by the study.

It was 1.5 per cent in the previous survey (NFHS-4). 

Another constituency from the state, Machhlishahr (SC), had the lowest proportion of men with health insurance. It was 4.2 per cent in NFHS-5 compared to 2 per cent in the previous round. 

Bankura in West Bengal has the lowest share of women with a mobile phone at 28.2 per cent (chart 2).

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On seven indicators, more than 25 per cent of constituencies have achieved the target by 2021. In two of them, adolescent pregnancy among 10-14 year olds and tobacco use among women, 89.5 per cent and 73.7 per cent, respectively, have achieved the goal and will maintain it by 2030.

Improved water is another indicator where 38.6 per cent have achieved the goal. (chart 3). 

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Everyone in Lalganj (SC) has access to improved water, according to NFHS-5. 

Chandni Chowk in Delhi has the lowest rate of adolescent pregnancy (10-14 years old) at 0.03 per cent. 

Tobacco use among women was the lowest in Hisar in Haryana with prevalence only in 0.08 per cent of the population (chart 4).

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