With a score of 38.6 out of 100, India’s performance on health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Index is the worst among BRICS nations.

SDGs are universal targets including ending poverty, hunger and inequality, improving access to health and education among others for all countries by 2030.

Created by the international research collaboration Global Burden of Disease, the SDG index calculates the performance of countries on 37 health-related targets of SDGs including under-five mortality, neonatal mortality rate, alcohol consumption, rate of tuberculosis and access to sanitation.

BRICS is a group of five countries which share similar economic conditions. Brazil scored the highest (62.5), followed by China (60.6), Russia (54.2) and South Africa (43.2).

Of the 37 SDG targets, India’s score on Hepatitis B cases (10.5/100), deaths attributed to unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene practices (10.9), levels of fine particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns (11.4) and prevalence of those under 18 who had experienced sexual violence (13.6) was poor.

The SDGs have set a target to reduce neonatal mortality rate to 12 deaths per 1,000 live births by 2030. India reported a rate of 28 in 2013--worse than the 2016 global average of 17, as IndiaSpend reported in September 2017. On under-five mortality, the SDGs have set a target of under 25 deaths per 1,000 live births. India under-five mortality (50) is much worse than the global average of 38.

Globally, Singapore scored the highest (87), followed by Iceland and Sweden (86). The lowest scoring nations were Afghanistan, Central Republic of Africa and Brunei (11).

Most countries could achieve health-related targets for under-five mortality, neonatal mortality, maternal mortality and malaria. However, less than 5% countries could reach SDGs such as road injury mortality, tuberculosis and childhood overweight, and violence indicators such as intimate partner violence and suicide mortality, the study noted.

Source: Health-related SDGs, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME)

(Yadavar is a principal correspondent with IndiaSpend.)