PMID- 38374676
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20240221
LR  - 20240304
IS  - 0975-5691 (Electronic)
IS  - 0974-8466 (Linking)
VI  - VIII
IP  - 4
DP  - 2023 Oct-Dec
TI  - If you can't fix the problem change the standards.
PG  - 261-264
LID - 10.20529/IJME.2023.051 [doi]
AB  - Over the last few months, established data systems in India have been the target 
      of heated dispute, chiefly by members of the Economic Advisory Council to the 
      Prime Minister, ranging from the inflation numbers [1], to the sampling frame for 
      surveys done by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSS), the National 
      Family Health Survey (NFHS) and the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS)[2], 
      haemoglobin cut-offs for anaemia [3] and childhood growth standards, female 
      labour force participation rate and life expectancy at birth [4]. The attempts to 
      revise economic data systems has invited a raging debate [5, 6], prompting the 
      government to set up a panel to review the NSS's methodology. However, the 
      arguments being made in favor of downward revision of nutritional standards have 
      received much less scrutiny, except for a recent editorial which comments on the 
      general problem of drawing up standards [7]. This is despite the fact that these 
      proposals have already caught the fancy of the government. A policy decision has 
      already been taken to discontinue gathering of data on Hb-levels as part of the 
      quinquennial National Family Health Surveys, which would now be collected as part 
      of a new Dietary and Bio-markers Survey. Neither the rationale for such a move, 
      nor the details of the methodology of the new survey, or the time-frame within 
      which such data would be released have been made available for public 
      deliberation. Similarly, discussions have been initiated on devising "indigenous" 
      growth standards for children [8]. Hence, it becomes imperative to examine the 
      basis of these renewed calls for revision of existing standards.
FAU - Joshi, Siddharth
AU  - Joshi S
AD  - Independent Researcher, Bengaluru, INDIA.
FAU - Shatrugna, Veena
AU  - Shatrugna V
AD  - Former Deputy Director, National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad; Indepedent 
      Researcher, Bengaluru, INDIA.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PL  - India
TA  - Indian J Med Ethics
JT  - Indian journal of medical ethics
JID - 101214913
SB  - IM
MH  - Female
MH  - Humans
MH  - Employment
MH  - India
MH  - Life Expectancy
MH  - Reference Standards
MH  - Surveys and Questionnaires
MH  - *Data Systems
EDAT- 2024/02/20 11:50
MHDA- 2024/02/21 11:22
CRDT- 2024/02/20 02:21
PHST- 2024/02/21 11:22 [medline]
PHST- 2024/02/20 11:50 [pubmed]
PHST- 2024/02/20 02:21 [entrez]
AID - 10.20529/IJME.2023.051 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Indian J Med Ethics. 2023 Oct-Dec;VIII(4):261-264. doi: 10.20529/IJME.2023.051.