Kerala Number 1 in overall health index: NITI Aayog

For the second time in a row, Kerala has emerged as the top ranking state in terms of overall health performance, according to second health index launched by NITI Aayog.

The second index took into account base year — 2015-2016 — to reference year — 2017-2018. According to the index, Uttar Pradesh is the worst when it comes to overall health performance.

The ranking was done under three categories — larger states, smaller states and Union territories (UTs) — to ensure comparison among similar entities.

Gujarat, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh stood at fourth, fifth and sixth spots, according to the report, titled “Healthy States, Progressive India: Report on Rank of States and UTs”.

Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra have emerged as the top ranking states based on historical performance across health indicators while Haryana, Rajasthan and Jharkhand top the index based on incremental performance in the second edition of health index launched by the government think tank.

The health index is a composite measure of states and union territories based on 23 health indicators with major weightage to outcomes.

Kerala, Punjab, and Tamil Nadu had ranked on top in terms of overall performance, while Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir, and Uttar Pradesh were the top three ranking states in terms of annual incremental performance in the first ranking of states on health parameters which was published in February 2018.

The second edition of the report focuses on measuring the overall performance and incremental improvement over a two-year period — 2016-17 and 2017-18 — in the states and UTs.

In the press conference, chaired by Amit Kant, CEO of NITI Aayog highlighted that state’s ranking would impact the budget they get from the Centre.

Incremental performance:
In terms of incremental performances, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Jharkhand made the maximum improvement in terms of health among larger states.
Smaller states:
Among the smaller states, Mizoram ranked first in overall performance, while Tripura and Manipur were top two states in terms of incremental performance.
Union Territories:
Among the Union Territories, Chandigarh ranked first in overall performance, while Dadra and Nagar Haveli made the most improvement. 

Report prepared by:
The report was prepared NITI Aayog in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare with technical assistance from the World Bank.

Healthy States Progressive India:
NITI Aayog’s report, titled ‘Healthy States Progressive India’, ranked states and Union Territories (UTs) based on the Health Index. The evaluation was based on 23 indicators that covers the key aspects of health sector performance. 
The first edition of the report of this kind was released in 2018. It measured the annual and incremental performances of states and UTs for period 2014-15 (as base year) to 2015-16 (as reference year).
In the 2018 report, Kerala, Punjab, and Tamil Nadu had ranked on top in terms of overall performance among bigger states. Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir, and Uttar Pradesh topped in terms of annual incremental performance.

NITI Aayog:
Formed on: 1 January 2015
Headquarters: Delhi    
Chairman: Narendra Modi
Vice Chairman: Rajiv Kumar
CEO: Amitabh Kant
It replaced the Planning Commission.
The government think tank aims to achieve Sustainable Development Goals  (SDG). It also plans to enhance cooperative federalism by fostering the involvement of State Governments of India in the economic policy-making process.