PANAJI
Goa slipped down from second to fourth position in terms of overall health performance among eight smaller states, according to the fourth Health Index released by NITI Aayog.
The fourth round of the Health Index took into account the period 2019-20 as reference year. With a score of 53.68, Goa’s performance in Health Index is at fourth place, behind Mizoram, Tripura and Sikkim. Incidentally, Goa has registered the largest decline of 12.7 percentage points in the Health Index score. Among larger states, Kerala has topped Niti Aayog’s health performance rankings for the 4th time while UP is at the bottom of the list.
The report, however, added that Uttar Pradesh ranked at the top in terms of incremental performance by registering the highest incremental change from the base year (2018-19) to the reference year (2019-20). In a tweet, the NITI Aayog said, “The Health Index is a step towards helping States & UTs develop robust healthcare systems, track progress on health outcomes, build healthy competition & encourage cross-learning.’’
The report by the government think tank said Tamil Nadu and Telangana have emerged as the second and third best performers, respectively, on health parameters.
NITI Aayog’s health index is a weighted composite score incorporating 24 indicators covering key aspects of health performance in three domains ” health outcomes, governance and information, and key inputs and processes. The report has been prepared in collaboration with the ministry of health and family welfare with technical assistance from the World Bank.
