National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) 2015-16: Chhattisgarh

The overall sex ratio was 1,019 females per 1,000 males, and the sex ratio of the under-7 population was 977 females per 1,000 males.

Of the households surveyed in Chhattisgarh, 36 per cent lived in a pucca (permanent) structure and 96 per cent had electricity. Around 59 per cent of all households did not use a sanitation facility and defecated in the open. Of these, 72 per cent were in rural areas and 18 per cent in urban areas.

School attendance among children in the 6-14 age group was 94 per cent. However, it dropped to 73 per cent among children between 15 and 17 years. 90 per cent of all children (6-17 years) attended school in urban areas and 86 per cent attended school in rural areas.

Around 66 per cent of women and 86 per cent of men between the ages of 15 and 49 were literate. That is, they had either completed Class 6 or passed a simple literacy test conducted as part of NFHS-4. 17 per cent of women and 24 per cent of men in the same age group had completed 12 or more years of schooling.

21 per cent of women (aged 20-24) were married before the legal minimum age of 18, down from 55 per cent in NFHS-3.

Only 4 per cent of women and men each wanted more daughters than sons, while 20 per cent of women and 18 per cent of men wanted more sons than daughters.

A majority of men (60 per cent) knew that a condom, if used correctly, could protect against pregnancy most of the time. However, 34 per cent of all men believed that contraception was ‘women’s business’.

Among teenage mothers, the infant mortality rate (IMR) was 67 deaths before the age of 1 per 1,000 live births. Among mothers aged 30-39, IMR was 57 and among mothers aged 20-29, it was 51.

In the five years preceding the survey, 78 per cent of all births took place with the help of a health professional (a doctor, an auxiliary nurse midwife, a ‘lady health visitor’, a nurse or a midwife).

About 76 per cent of 12-23-month-old children had received all the basic vaccinations against six major childhood illnesses (tuberculosis, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio, and measles) before the survey. 38 per cent of children under five were stunted and 23 per cent were wasted (low weight for height), indicating undernourishment.

Around 47 per cent of all women and 22 per cent of all men had anaemia. Overall, 157 persons per 100,000 were estimated to have been medically treated for tuberculosis. The number was higher among men (205) than among women (110) and more in rural areas (168) than in urban areas (121).

The public health sector was the main source of healthcare for half the households surveyed. However, 60 per cent of urban households preferred the private sector as their main source of healthcare.

Only 45 per cent of women aged 15-49 were employed in the 12 months before the survey, as compared to 82 per cent men. Around 50 per cent of these women worked in non-agricultural occupations, as did 68 per cent of men.

51 per cent of women had a bank or savings account that they used themselves. Although 52 per cent of women knew of microcredit programmes, only 5 per cent had ever taken a loan from one. Only 34 per cent of women were allowed to go alone to the market, a health facility and village/ community spaces by themselves.

Around 34 per cent of women aged 15-49 had experienced physical violence and 6 per cent had been subjected to sexual violence. Among married women who had experienced physical violence, the most common perpetrator was the husband. Only 21 per cent of all women who had witnessed physical or sexual violence sought help.

Focus and Factoids by Priti David.

PARI Library's health archive project is part of an initiative supported by the Azim Premji University to develop a free-access repository of health-related reports relevant to rural India.