Context

The NITI Aayog recently released the ‘Annual health index’ for the Covid year 2020-21.

Key highlights of the annual health index:

• Top Performer:The three southern states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana emerged as the top performers among the 19 'larger states' in the index.
• Low Performer: Bihar (19th), Uttar Pradesh (18th) and Madhya Pradesh (17th) are at the bottom of the list.
• Incremental Performer:Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Odisha emerged as the top three performers in 2020-21, as compared to previous index (2019-20).
• Smaller states and UT:Tripura was the best among the 'smaller states', while Delhi ranked at the bottom of the Union territories' list.

About the Index:

• The NITI Aayog's annual health index measures the performance of states and UTs on a "weighted composite score incorporating 24 health performance indicators".
• The health index assesses states and UTs on two parameters–
  • incremental performance(year-on-year progress)
  • overall performance
• Performance indicators: The performance ranks of states and UTs based on 24 indicators grouped under the domains of ‘health outcomes’, ‘governance and information’, and ‘key inputs/ processes’.