Mortality, Morbidity and Health Questions and Answers

Answer: D

Dengue is the condition not included in the National Family Health Surveys. The NFHS collects data on a limited list of morbidity conditions, among them tuberculosis, malaria and diabetes, together with child illnesses such as diarrhoea and acute respiratory infection. Dengue was not one of the diseases asked about in any round of the survey. Tuberculosis, malaria and diabetes are all included, so options A, B and C are wrong and option D is correct.

Answer: A

Both statements are true, and the reason explains the assertion. In most states of India the health care services for pregnant women and newborn infants are poor, as shown by high maternal and infant mortality and low rates of institutional delivery. The reason for this is that the primary health care system, the sub-centres and primary health centres that should deliver such services, is ill-equipped to deal with the burden of illness. That explains the assertion, so option A is correct. Option B would be right only if the reason did not account for the poor services.

Answer: A

According to NFHS-3, less than 45 percent of children aged 12 - 23 months were fully immunised, the figure being about 44 percent. The survey counted a child as fully immunised if it had received BCG, three doses of DPT and polio, and measles. Coverage was still far below the target of universal immunisation, so the figures of 45 percent or more, in options B, C and D, are too high. Option A is correct.

Answer: A

The nutritional status of children is measured by the percentage stunted, the percentage wasted and the percentage underweight. Stunting is low height for age and shows chronic undernutrition, wasting is low weight for height and shows acute undernutrition, and underweight is low weight for age and combines the two. A measure with only two of these gives an incomplete picture, so options B and C are wrong, and option D, none, is also wrong. Option A is correct.

Answer: C

The natural growth rate of the country in the SRS Bulletin of December 2011 falls in the 14 - 14.9 class. The crude birth rate was about 22.1 and the crude death rate about 7.2 per thousand, which gives a natural growth rate of 14.9. That is above the range of option A and option B, and below that of option D. Option C is correct.

Answer: C

According to the SRS Bulletin of December 2011, Madhya Pradesh has the highest infant mortality rate among the states listed, which is why the key takes it. Madhya Pradesh has led the table of large states in the SRS series for several years, ahead of Uttar Pradesh, Orissa and Rajasthan, which also have high rates but lower ones in that bulletin. Madhya Pradesh has a high share of births outside institutions, a large tribal population and weak access to newborn care, and these keep infant deaths high. Option C is correct.

Answer: A

The Sample Registration System Bulletin of October 2012 reported the country's death rate for 2011 as 7.1 per thousand, which falls in the 6 to 7.9 band. The other bands, 8 to 9.9, 10 to 11.9 and 12 to 13.9, are all higher than the figure the Bulletin gave, so they do not describe the Indian death rate of that period. The lowest band is therefore the keyed answer.

Answer: A

The nPx column of the life table is the survival function, the probability that a person at the start of an age interval survives to the end of it. The probability of death is the complementary column (nqx), the number of persons living between two ages is the Lx column, and the expectation of life at birth is the e0 value. So the survival function is the keyed answer.

Answer: B

The lx column of the life table gives the number of persons who survive to exact age x out of the original cohort (the radix, usually 100,000 births). The probability of death is qx, the number of person years lived is Lx, and the total life time after age x is Tx. So the number of persons living at exact age x is the correct answer.

Answer: D

The key accepts all three statements, that the infant mortality rate can be worked out from the births and infant deaths of one year, of two consecutive years or of three consecutive years (averaging over more years is used where the numbers are small). So the option 'All the above' is the keyed answer, and any single option leaves out two accepted ways.