The NFHS collected data on COVID deaths, toilets and fuel, but the information is missing from fact sheets

The National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-6 had seven questions focused on the COVID pandemic, ranging from “Has anyone in your household tested positive for COVID-19, including the deceased?” but data are not reported in the fact sheets. Image is for representational purposes only. | Photo credit: MOORTHY RV

The National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-6 collected data on COVID-19, but the data did not make it into the fact sheets released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare released a few days ago. The survey was conducted in two phases, one from 28 May 2023 to 26 February 2024 and the second phase from 7 February 2024 to 31 December 2024 by 27 Field Agencies (FAs) and collected information from 6,79,238 households, 716,397 males and 707 females, 707 females,

Seven questions focused on COVID

There were seven questions focused on the COVID pandemic, ranging from “Has anyone in your household tested positive for COVID-19, including the deceased?” to “Has any household member been hospitalized for treatment of a COVID-19 infection?”. It also collected data on out-of-pocket payments for the treatment of surviving and deceased family members and sources of money for out-of-pocket payments.

When The Hindu approached the researcher whether this information on COVID was collected, the answer was yes.

If this information was shared, it would allow researchers to understand the impact of the COVID pandemic, from the death toll to the economic impact of the disease. There is wide variation in information on the death toll due to COVID, with the official number being 5,33,849, while other international agencies estimate the death toll to be at least four times that number.

NHFS-6 really broke new ground. “Some new questions like migration status, experience of COVID, knowledge of anemia and hepatitis B/C, related to SHGs, digital literacy and some questions were modified or omitted according to the current situation,” informed UV Somayajulu, CEO and managing director of Sigma, a Delhi-based social research organization that conducted fieldwork in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Telangana islands.

There were also other changes in data collection. “Direct questions about HIV/AIDS were omitted and asked differently and separately for HIV and AIDS. A question on anemia experience was dropped and asked about awareness. Anemia testing was dropped from the biomarker,” informs Mr. Somayajulu.

Details of IMR and NMR are not part of NFHS-6

However, not all the collected data made it into the information sheets. The published NFHS-5 had 131 parameters. In contrast, the NFHS-6 had only 101 parameters with 46 parameters covering children/birth/women. However, even here, the NFHS-6 deviates from earlier surveys by not reporting the details of neonatal mortality, infant mortality, and under-five mortality that were included in the NFHS-5 data.

A foreword by Health Minister JP Nadda says, “Like previous rounds, the NFHS-6 estimates will help monitor the performance of various flagship programs launched by the Government of India in recent years.”

Sanitation data

However, the NFHS-6 does not have the sanitation data that was included in the NFHS-5, although the data was collected with three questions on this topic, including: “Do you and members of your household have a toilet that you can use?

Another indicator for which data was collected but not used is “What type of fuel does your household mainly use for cooking?” This data point would show how fuel consumption has changed in Indian households driven by the flagship program Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY). Data on adult literacy also did not make it into the NFHS-6 data sheets.

An email sent to the International Institute for Population Sciences, which conducted the study, did not elicit a response about the change in data sharing.

Published – June 6, 2026 4:21 PM IST