GUWAHATI, Nov 20 - While access to improved sanitation and electricity is higher in Kamrup Metro district as compared to the average for the State, less than one-fifth of the households in the district have any of their members covered by health insurance.
As per findings of the National Family Health Survey 4 (2015-16), over 61 per cent households in Kamrup Metro are using improved sanitation facilities like flush to piped sewer system, flush to septic tank, flush to pit latrine, ventilated improved pit or biogas latrine, pit latrine with slab, twin pit or composting toilet which is not shared with any other household as against the State average of 47.7 per cent.
Similarly, as many as 97.3 per cent households in Kamrup Metro district have electricity. The average for the State is 78.2 per cent households.
NFHS-4 also showed that 79 per cent households in the district use clean fuel like electricity, LPG or biogas for cooking purposes, as against the State average of a mere 25.1 per cent.
Over 80 per cent of households in Kamrup Metro have access to improved drinking water sources like piped water in their dwelling or plot, public tap or standpipe, tubewell or borehole, protected dug well, protected spring, rainwater and community RO plant in 2015-16.
Almost all households in the district, which include Guwahati, use iodised salt, as per the survey�s findings.
However, NFHS-4 also found that only 16.7 per cent households in Kamrup Metro have any usual member covered by a health scheme or health insurance. This is not much higher than the average 10.4 per cent coverage by health scheme or health insurance across Assam.
Birth registration in the district stood quite high at 97.6 per cent in 2015-16.
Of the total population of the district, 22.1 per cent are below the age of 15 years, as per NFHS-4 data.
Among women in the age-group of 15-49 years, the percentage of literates in Kamrup Metro is 84.3 per cent, while that of men in the same age group is 93.5 per cent.
The National Family Health Survey 2015-16 is the fourth in the NFHS series and it provides information on population, health and nutrition.
As in the earlier rounds, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare designated the International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, as the nodal agency to conduct NFHS-4.
The main objective of each successive round of NFHS has been to provide essential data on health and family welfare and emerging issues in this area.
