New Delhi [India], December 27 (ANI): NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar on Monday congratulated Yogi Adityanath-led government in Uttar Pradesh with respect to the fourth edition of the State Health Index and stated that the state has made improvement in the health infrastructure, services and governance over the last few years.

"Among 19 large states, the best performance by far has been done by Uttar Pardesh and I want to congratulate the Chief Minister for this very strong performance and the improvement over the last few years," Kumar told ANI.

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"This has been achieved because of the improvement in governance and delivery of health services and also improving medical education and infrastructure," he added.

NITI Aayog on Monday released the fourth edition of "The Healthy States, Progressive India" ranking States based on the progress on health outcomes and health systems performance across the country.

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Among the 'Larger States', in terms of annual incremental performance, Uttar Pradesh, Assam and Telangana are the top three ranking states. Among, 'Smaller States', Mizoram and Meghalaya registered the maximum annual incremental progress. Among UTs, Delhi, followed by Jammu and Kashmir, showed the best incremental performance. On overall ranking based on the composite index score in 2019-20, the top-ranking states were Kerala and Tamil Nadu among the 'Larger States', Mizoram and Tripura among the 'Smaller States', and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu and Chandigarh among the UTs.

The State Health Index is an annual tool to assess the performance of states and UTs. It is a weighted composite index based on 24 indicators grouped under the domains of 'Health Outcomes', 'Governance and Information', and 'Key Inputs/Processes'. Each domain has been assigned weights based on its importance with higher scores for outcome indicators.

The report was released jointly by NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Dr Rajiv Kumar, CEO Amitabh Kant, Additional Secretary Dr Rakesh Sarwal, and World Bank Senior Health Specialist Sheena Chhabra. The report has been developed by NITI Aayog, with technical assistance from the World Bank, and in close consultation with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW). (ANI)

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