The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has clarified why anaemia figures are not part of the recently released National Family Health Survey (NFHS-6) Fact Sheets, saying the government has decided to rely on a separate scientific survey by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) that uses a more accurate method for measuring haemoglobin levels.

The clarification came after the National and State/UT Fact Sheets of NFHS-6 (2023-24) were released on May 29, 2026. The survey, conducted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, is India's most comprehensive source of data on health and family welfare. It covers a wide range of topics, including population characteristics, fertility, family planning, maternal and child health, nutrition, disease burden, healthcare access and women's empowerment.

As per the statement of Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare,Anupriya Patel the indicators included in the NFHS-6 Fact Sheets were finalised on the recommendations of a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) comprising representatives from several ministries and government organisations, including the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, NITI Aayog, the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, and the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities.

According to the government, the committee recommended that the NFHS-6 Fact Sheets should focus on key health and family welfare indicators while following the Centre's data harmonisation initiative. The objective was to ensure consistency across official government databases and avoid confusion caused by differences in data reported by various sources.

The Ministry further said that, after detailed deliberations, it decided that the prevalence of anaemia would be determined through an independent survey being conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The survey uses the gold standard intravenous method for haemoglobin testing, which is expected to provide more accurate estimates of anaemia prevalence than the methods used earlier.

The government believes that using a scientifically robust and standardised testing method will improve the reliability of anaemia data and help policymakers design more effective interventions to tackle the country's anaemia burden.

Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare,  Anupriya Patel, shared this information in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoH&FW) conducts an integrated survey namely National Family Health Survey (NFHS). The survey provides data on health and family welfare and associated domains like characteristics of the population; fertility and fertility preferences; family planning; maternal and child health; nutrition; morbidity and healthcare; women’s empowerment, etc. The National and State/UT Fact Sheets of sixth round of NFHS (2023-24) were released on 29.05.2026.

The indicators to be included in the NFHS-6 National and State/UT Fact Sheets were finalized on the recommendations of the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) constituted for NFHS-6, comprising representatives from concerned Ministries/Departments including Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS), Ministry of Women & Child Development (MoWCD), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner of India (ORGI), NITI Aayog, Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD) etc.

The TAC recommended finalizing the list of indicators for the Fact Sheets in line with the Data Harmonization initiatives of the Government of India (GoI), so as to avoid inconsistencies arising from fragmented and unharmonized data available across different official data sources. The TAC further recommended that the Fact Sheets are intended to present only key indicators, particularly those related to health and family welfare, so as to better highlight the key takeaways of the survey.

Additionally, the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, after due deliberations, decided to adopt the prevalence figures of anaemia to be arrived from an independent survey conducted by Indian Council of Medical Research utilizing the gold standard intravenous method for haemoglobin testing.