- Indicators of concern in Tamil Nadu
- Some of the key highlights
- Delivery, Post Natal Care
- Child Vaccinations, Feeding Practices and Nutritional Status of Children
- Interventions recommended for child nutrition
- Source: Presentation on NFHS-6 by faculty of School of Public Health, SRMIST during workshop on NFHS-6
Speakers at a workshop on National Family Health Survey 2023-2024 (NFHS-6) raised the need for State-specific modules in future rounds of the surveys. For Tamil Nadu, they said the survey should cover issues such as infertility, ageing, underweight among children and migration.
S. Irudaya Rajan, chairperson, International Institute for Migration and Development, Thiruvananthapuram, said only 10 of the 101 variables in NFHS-6 are really useful for policy making in Tamil Nadu. Citing Total Fertility Rate (TFR) as an example, he questioned the need to talk about TFR, which stands at 1.7 for Tamil Nadu, instead of talking about infertility.
Indicators of concern in Tamil Nadu [NFHS-6]
Antenatal care in first trimester
Early initiation of breastfeeding
Caesarean in public facilities
Exclusive breastfeeding
Adequate complementary diet
Vitamin A dose
Stunting
Wasting
Elevated blood pressure in women
Elevated blood sugar in women
Obesity in women
He raised the need for more research on the nutritional status of children, noting that children under five years who were stunted in Tamil Nadu stood at 20.7%, wasted was 17.4%, and underweight was 23.2%. “One-fourth of children are underweight. Where are we heading?” he asked.
Similarly, he said that men and women being overweight or obese has implications for the future (44.2% of women and 38.8% of men). Mr. Irudaya Rajan said that NFHS-6 has nothing about the elderly when ageing is an important topic for Tamil Nadu.
Some of the key highlights
Delivery, Post Natal Care
Births delivered by caesarean section have more than doubled in 20 years
Caesarean sections in private facilities have almost doubled, standing at 60.3% in NFHS-6
62.1% of persons in rural areas go to private health facilities for caesarean sections
Caesarean sections in public health facilities have also increased – 39.6% in NFHS-6
One in 10 women did not receive postnatal care
Four out of 10 women are overweight/obese
Child Vaccinations, Feeding Practices and Nutritional Status of Children
Children age 24-35 months who have received a second dose of measles-containing
vaccine stood at 75.6%
Only 54.8% children under age 3 years breastfed within one hour of birth
55.6% children under age 6 months exclusively breastfed, lowest among south Indian States
Children age 6-23 months receiving an adequate diet is 20.6%
Interventions recommended for child nutrition
Adequate complementary diet
Periodic deworming
Anaemia management in women
Source: Presentation on NFHS-6 by faculty of School of Public Health, SRMIST during workshop on NFHS-6
He went on to emphasise the need to look at internal migration – factors such as their living conditions, wages, inability to bring their families and language barriers. “They are your lifeline. Tamil Nadu should be a model in protecting internal migrants,” he said.
In his inaugural address, K. Srinivasan, former director, International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, gave a brief history of NFHS, which was mainly started to understand factors including fertility, mortality trends, use of contraceptive methods and ideal family size.
He said there has been considerable increase in the number of sample households interviewed from round-to-round as well as complexity of questions, sensitive questions such as on domestic violence and extramarital sex are asked by unknown investigators (captured indirectly).
He said that it is recommended that the questionnaire be trimmed to meet the basic objectives with which NFHS was started and State-specific modules added, if necessary in future rounds.
Padmavathy Srinivasan, independent consultant in demography, also raised the need to look at State-specific problems and study those in detail.
M. Suresh Babu, director, Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS), said caesarean sections, breastfeeding practices, co-existence of malnutrition and obesity, increase in Non Communicable Diseases are among the main concerns raised for further examination, “We need State-level longitudinal surveys to understand some of these phenomena,” he said.
The workshop was jointly organised by MIDS and School of Public Health, SRM Institute of Science and Technology (SRMIST) on Monday. Hari Singh, dean and Geeta Veliah and M. Benson Thomas, faculty, School of Public Health, SRMIST gave a presentation on NFHS-6. V. R. Muraleedharan, professor emeritus, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT-Madras, chaired a panel discussion in which K. Navaneetham, demographer, and Monalisha Chakraborty, assistant professor, MIDS spoke.
Published – July 27, 2026 09:13 pm IST
