Introduction

The National Family Health Survey 2019-20 (NFHS-5), the fifth in the NFHS series, provides information on population, health, and nutrition for India and each State/Union Territory (UT). Like NFHS-4, NFHS-5 also provides district-level estimates for many important indicators.

The contents of NFHS-5 are similar to NFHS-4 to allow comparisons over time. However, NFHS-5 includes some new topics, such as preschool education, disability, access to a toilet facility, death registration, bathing practices during menstruation, and methods and reasons for abortion. The scope of clinical, anthropometric, and biochemical testing (CAB) has also been expanded to include measurement of waist and hip circumferences, and the age range for the measurement of blood pressure and blood glucose has been expanded. However, HIV testing has been dropped. The NFHS-5 sample has been designed to provide national, State/UT, and district level estimates of various indicators covered in the survey. However, estimates of indicators of sexual behaviour; husband’s background and woman’s work; HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitudes and behaviour; and domestic violence are available only at the State/UT and national level. As in the earlier rounds, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, designated the International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, as the nodal agency to conduct NFHS-5. The main objective of each successive round of the NFHS has been to provide high-quality data on health and family welfare and emerging issues in this area. 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 from NFHS-5 help in identifying the need for new programmes with an area specific focus and identifying groups that are most in need of essential services. Four Survey Schedules - Household, Woman’s, Man’s, and Biomarker - were canvassed in local languages using Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI). In the Household Schedule, information was collected on all usual members of the household and visitors who stayed in the household the previous night, as well as socio-economic characteristics of the household; water, sanitation, and hygiene; health insurance coverage; disabilities; land ownership; number of deaths in the household in the three years preceding the survey; and the ownership and use of mosquito nets. The Woman’s Schedule covered a wide variety of topics, including the woman’s characteristics, marriage, fertility, contraception, children’s immunizations and healthcare, nutrition, reproductive health, sexual behaviour, HIV/AIDS, women’s empowerment, and domestic violence. The Man’s Schedule covered the man’s characteristics, marriage, his number of children, contraception, fertility preferences, nutrition, sexual behaviour, health issues, attitudes towards gender roles, and HIV/AIDS. The Biomarker Schedule covered measurements of height, weight, and haemoglobin levels for children; measurements of height, weight, waist and hip circumference, and haemoglobin levels for women age 15-49 years and men age 15-54 years; and blood pressure and random blood glucose levels for women and men age 15 years and over. In addition, women and men were requested to provide a few additional drops of blood from a finger prick for laboratory testing for HbA1c, malaria parasites, and Vitamin D3. Readers should be cautious while interpreting and comparing the trends as some States/UTs may have smaller sample size. Moreover, at the time of survey, Ayushman Bharat AB-PMJAY and Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA) were not fully rolled out and hence, their coverage may not have been factored in the results of indicator 12 (percentage of households with any usual member covered under a health insurance/financing scheme) and indicator 41 (percentage of mothers who received 4 or more antenatal care check-ups). This fact sheet provides information on key indicators and trends for Andaman & Nicobar Islands. NFHS-5 fieldwork for Andaman & Nicobar Islands was conducted from 17 October, 2019 to 2 February, 2020 by Sigma Research and Consulting Pvt. Ltd. Information was gathered from 2,624 households, 2,397 women, and 367 men. Fact sheets for each district in Andaman & Nicobar Islands are also available separately.