New Delhi: Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare released the 14thNational Health Profile (NHP)2019 & its e-book (digital version) here today. The NHP is prepared by the Central Bureau of Health Intelligence (CBHI) and covers comprehensive information on demographic, socio-economic health status, health finance indicators, health infrastructure and health of human resources in the country. This 14th edition of NHP is the continuation of the publication since 2005.

Speaking at the function, the Health Minister stated that data is an important source of understanding the needs and issues of the population. It helps in understanding the goals, our strengths and weaknesses and is also an important means to strategize area specific interventions. Good quality data enables the policymakers to make evidence-based policies and aids effective implementation of various schemes, he added. Dr. Harsh Vardhan also suggested that this document should be highly disseminated so that more and more people who want to develop health interventions or programs can utilize this data and come up with unique solutions and policy suggestions. HFM further said that the e-book of NHP-2019 is a step towards realizing Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s vision of Digital India, as digital documents give us an opportunity for wider dissemination of information.

Speaking on the occasion, Ms. Preeti Sudan, Secretary (Health) stated that data is not only important for understanding the health indicators of the country, but it also provides an opportunity to monitor the situation. She said that the National Health Profile – 2019 indicates that significant progress has been made in the country for various health outcomes, which is an encouraging sign.

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The NHP highlights substantial health information under major indicators viz. demographic indicators (population and vital statistics), socio-economic indicators (education, employment, housing and amenities, drinking water and sanitation) and health status indicators (incidence and prevalence of common communicable and non-communicable diseases and RCH) etc. The health finance section provides an overview of health insurance and expenditure on health, both public and Out of Pocket Expenditure (OOP) etc. The section on human resources provides an overview of availability of manpower working in the health sector, while health infrastructure sectionprovides details of Medical and Dental Colleges, AYUSH Institutes, Nursing Courses and Paramedical Courses etc.

Also present at the release function were Dr. Sanjay Tyagi, DGHS, Dr. Madhu Raikwar, DDG & Director (CBHI) and other Senior Officers of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Directorate General of Health Services.

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