‘More literate men than women in State’

NFHS-5 fact sheet refers to people who completed ninth standard or higher

The percentage of literate men aged 15 to 49 years is more compared to women of the same age group in Telangana, as per the National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-5 (2019-20) fact sheet released on Saturday.

According to it, while 84.8% of men were literate, it is only 66.6% in case of women. It refers to people who completed ninth standard or higher, and who can read a whole sentence or part of a sentence. Considering the data, focus is more on women’s education now.

While 61.2% of men received 10 or more years of schooling, only 45.5% of women received 10 or more years of schooling.

The NFHS provides information on population, health, and nutrition for India and each State, Union Territory. Phase-1 of the fifth edition of the survey has the data on 22 States and Union Territories.

Compared to the earlier NFHS fact sheets, the fifth edition has some new topics such as pre-school education, disability, access to a toilet facility, death registration, bathing practices during menstruation, and the methods and reasons for abortion. According to the fact sheet, the NFHS-5 data will be useful in setting benchmarks and examining the progress the health sector has made over time.

Besides, providing evidence for the effectiveness of ongoing programmes, the data helps in identifying the need for new programmes with an area specific focus and identifying groups that are most in need of essential services.

In Telangana, the field work for NFHS-5 was conducted from June 30 to November 14, 2019. The information was gathered from 27,351 households, 3,863 men, and 27,518 women.

According to NFHS-4 (2015-16), the sex ratio of the total population (females per 1,000 males) was 1,007. It increased to 1,049, according to the NFHS-5.

The fact sheet released on Saturday draws comparison with the data from NFHS-4.

One of the important indicators is Neonatal Mortality Rate (NNMR). In Telangana, it has dropped from 20.0 to 16.8. The World Health Organisation defines NNMR as “Number of deaths during the first 28 completed days of life per 1,000 live births in a given year or period”.