CHENNAI: Around 8% of women in the state did not visit a hospital even once during pregnancy, pointing to a decline in hospital visits for antenatal care, according to the National Family Health Survey-6 (NFHS-6), released by the Union Health Minister on Friday. The report also highlights a drop in the fertility rate (from 1.8% in NFHS-5 to 1.7% in NFHS-6) and vaccination coverage among children.
According to the survey, the proportion of women who attended at least one antenatal check-up fell from 95.8% in NFHS-5 (2019-21) to 92.2% in NFHS-6 (2023-24). Women completing the recommended minimum of four antenatal visits also declined from 90.6% to 87.6% over the same period. Notably, rural women recorded higher compliance at 88.6% compared to 86.2% in urban areas.
A Somasundaram, director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, acknowledged the findings and said corrective steps were under way. “We will look into the challenges and gaps, and supervise and monitor the programmes,” he told TNIE.
He added that the state had recently appointed 4,600 village health nurses alongside fresh doctor appointments, and expressed hope that these measures would yield better results. “Exclusive breastfeeding needs to be strengthened, and we are working on it. We are also in the process of digitising all data collection, which will enable better monitoring once in place,” he said.
On deliveries, the state recorded near-universal institutional births at 99.7%. The caesarean section rates rose from 44.9% in NFHS-5 to 46.9% in NFHS-6, of which 60.3% were at private hospitals, against 39.6% in government facilities. The share of deliveries conducted in government hospitals also came down slightly from 66.9% to 63.6%.
On child health indicators, the proportion of infants breastfed within one hour of birth dropped from 60.2% to 54.8%. Exclusive breastfeeding among infants under six months showed a marginal improvement, from 55.1% to 55.6%, though the data indicates that nearly 45% of infants in this age group are still not exclusively breastfed. Full vaccination coverage among children aged 12-23 months dipped marginally, from 90.4% to 89.7%, based on vaccination card records.