Status of Anaemia amongst women in India: trend analysis of NFHS data

Abstract

The study was taken up to assess the changing trend in prevalence and severity of anaemia in women of reproductive age over the last 15 years by analyzing National Family Health Survey (NFHS) factsheet data and to draw a comparison between the prevalence of anaemia across different states/UTs of India. NFHS 3, 4 and 5 factsheets have been referred for the same. An increase in the prevalence of anaemia from 53% to 57% in all women aged 15-49 years is seen, 50.4% to 52.2% in pregnant women and 53.2% to 57.2% in non-pregnant women between NFHS 4 and 5. West Bengal has the highest prevalence of anaemia, followed by Tripura (67.2%) and Assam with 65.9% among women of 15-49 years. NFHS 5 data shows an increase in the prevalence of anaemia in all women by 4%, 1.8% in pregnant women and a increase by 4 % in non-pregnant women. Anemia Mukt Bharat campaign launched in 2019, was expected to reduce or inert the anaemia burden, but NFHS 5 data indicates a surge in anaemia incidences significantly across women of all age groups over the last five years. Hence, there is a need for revamping and implementing the programmes in a better way.