India's family health gains offer lessons for Fiji

Child marriages have halved, nearly all women now participate in household decision-making, and fertility rates have stabilised.

These are among the findings of India's sixth National Family Health Survey, released last month, which the Indian High Commission in Suva says offers valuable lessons for Fiji.

Under-Secretary Bibhash Lahiri, of India's Ministry of External Affairs, presented the survey's key findings to reporters at the High Commission on Friday, drawing comparisons with challenges faced by Fiji, including non-communicable diseases (NCDs), HIV and women's health.

The survey, conducted across nearly 679,000 households in 2023-24 by the International Institute for Population Sciences in Mumbai, tracks two decades of social and health progress.

Institutional births increased from 38.7 per cent in 2005 to 90.6 per cent, while spousal violence fell from 37 per cent to 22.3 per cent. Child marriage declined from 47 per cent to 20 per cent.

However, Mr Lahiri acknowledged that India continued to face significant challenges and said Fiji was confronting many of the same issues.

"India and Fiji both face the same common challenge in the NCD burden," he said, noting obesity among Indian women had increased from 20 per cent to 30 per cent and diabetes cases were rising.

"Sadly the trend is going up, which I believe is almost the same all over the world."

Mr Lahiri said the survey's key message was that economic growth, combined with investment in education, digital access and women's empowerment, translated into better family health outcomes.

He said Pacific nations could draw lessons from India's experience.

"The economic growth in the last 20 years has actually helped India to move towards better family health."