Thread by @vjayakumar

2500+ people endorsed overnight, the disability sector's representation to @MoHFW_INDIA minister @mansukhmandviya on restoring the suddenly dropped questions from the upcoming National Family Health survey NFHS-6. Read it @ bit.ly/question-of-in…

#NfhsDrops #QuestionOfInclusion

Will be going through the NFHS-6 questionnaire compilation today.

And posting thoughts and doubts as I go along on this thread.

drive.google.com/file/d/1nVC-0a…

Starting with a term I've never heard of : GAUNA -
apparently rooted in child marriage customs as the 'consummation ritual '

indiatoday.in/india/story/ch…

So this send off to house of 'husband' after menarche for consummation / the start of actual married life is apparently a custom in some North Indian states.
In some cases gauna occurs only after legal age but pestering happens 😑

#NFHS-6 #ChildMarriage

Read that there's no legal age for gauna as it would mean acknowledgement of child marriage. 🤔

But if the legal age is 18 for women, why ask NFHS-6 question on marital status for 13 & above females only? 13 year old girl being married is in any case illegal, why half measures?

It's good that we're specifically asked this question instead of a default assumed.

Except, sex & gender conflation?

"Always confirm the sex of a person before recording it in Column (4) since there are many names that
may be given to a male, a female, & a transgender person"

Given gender dysphoria, and health needs of transgender and non-binary communities, perhaps the 2 step process in #NFHS-6 could record both sex at birth (if instrumentally necessary) and current gender identity.
Any advocacy on this so far @chennaipride ?

nationalacademies.org/news/2022/03/n…

The questions on school education present lost opportunities to incorporate disability (developmental delay vs typical age ranges) &reason for not attending school - whether locomotor disability & transport not accessible / admission refused due to disability / CWSN - HBE student

Pleased to note that in new entry Q 30, in NFHS-6 household schedule 'vaccine centre not accessible' is listed as a response code for reason for not taking Covid-19 vaccine. (except one suspects that they probably meant distance rather than accessibility from a disability POV!)

This bit must be due to copy paste of DHS templates. I know standardisation and global comparison, but asking if every household has a boat with motor? Kitchen garden?

Wish mix of responses was from most to least likely.

Kitchen having exhaust fan? Why not add windows too?

Grinned at the parquet flooring option!

In NFHS-6, HH Q 29, why not ask about bank account holding on a member basis (rather than a household basis) given growing DBT push?

Disability has been dropped for some new Covid related questions.

And now for the women's schedule...

In NFHS -6 woman's schedule's Q 242 'Main reason for abortion' options include male foetus and female foetus.

How can these be options given the PC-PNDT Act?

(Also how come father in law is exempt from machinations?! And unplanned pregnancy = euphemism for unprotected sex 😃)

Spot the difference in women's question 262 vs 263 in NFHS-6.

Is it what's been used during menstruation from the beginning of time vs what was last used?
How's it relevant? Wouldn't it be more useful to ask how many hours the sanitary pad was typically used without changing it?

As a matter of interest are pregnant persons registered in urban settings too by govt staff?

With this mother and child protection card?

I'd be interested in the socioeconomic profile of people using pregnancy testing kits in India.

Dear @IIPSMumbai , please add option "No I couldn't give the pneumococcal vaccine to my child because the @MoHFW_INDIA made a mess of ordering PCV in 2022" to questions on PCV in NFHS-6.

bit.ly/no-pcv

Quite a bit of NFHS is the same health awareness questions repeated in 3 years while nothing has really been done to change awareness / perceptions.

What is the point of a whole page of HIV awareness queries - if a person gets an answer wrong, are they told the right answer?

That's 5.5 PAGES of questions on HIV in the NFHS-6 Women's schedule.

If cribbing about the length of the questionnaire, you know where to cut. This seems a bit dated.

Reading the woman's questionnaire leaves me angry at the focus on child-bearing, child-rearing and violence.

Now for the NFHS-6 Men's Schedule.

Funny how polyandry isn't provided for - women's schedule asks how many wives the husband has, and the man is asked how many wives he has.

Check out answer code "ONLY one wife" 🤦🏾

Men : Women's number of sexual partner options in NFHS-6 = 9 : 7.

Same sex partner option is dropped for women, as is 'transgender'.

For a sex, violence and reproduction obsessed survey, that's quite a shortcoming!

Just like the NFHS-6 number of wives question which isn't reversed for the other gender, here's the question on justification for beating.

There has to be a better way to find out about intimate partner / domestic violence than these suggestive scenarios that normalise the issue

No 1137 in the NFHS-6 Women's schedule asks "As far as you know, did your father ever beat your mother?"

That's the final question in the deceptively titled section 11 : Household relations, which covers rape.

(Marital rape too).

Not asked in the Man's schedule. Wonder why.

Section 9 (Husband's background & Women's Work) in NFHS-6 women's schedule = Section 5 (Attitudes towards Gender roles) in the Men's.
That's the beating justification questions!
Zilch on mental health, even though preoccupied with pregnancy.
Other health issues are truly othered.

Verdict : this can be called the National Reproductive Health Survey, with a disturbing voyeuristic focus on sex and violence. Lots of socio-economic parameters to keep media and researchers busy for a couple of years. And health awareness testing in a vacuum.
WHERE'S THE HEALTH?