Understanding the Inequalities in Child Health Status: State-Level Insights for Policy Intervention in India

The U.N. Sustainable Development Goals highlighted the importance of good health and healthy well-being (SDG 3). Child health is very important for achieving SDG 3; maintaining proper child health is essential for a developing country like India. Against this backdrop, assessing child health across various states is crucial. Thus, the study developed the composite child health index (CHI) using a novel technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS)-based, factor analytic multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approach. The index was developed using secondary data compiled from the National Family Health Survey from 2015 to 2020 using 35 child health indicators. Hierarchical and K-means were applied to categorize the various states and union territories based on their CHI values. This analysis reveals significant differences in child health outcomes across Indian states, with two states achieving higher levels and 25 states facing lower levels of child health. Among the states, Nagaland tops the list (CHI = 0.57441), indicating better child health conditions, followed by Odisha (CHI = 0.54384). The states with the lowest scores, Andhra Pradesh (CHI = 0.08406) and Manipur (CHI = 0.1065), have more significant challenges in child health. Thus, there is a need for targeted interventions in the most affected areas.