The Dual Burden: Child Health Gains and the Rising NCD Crisis Health Gains, Emerging Burdens, and the Road Ahead for India Based on the National Family Health Survey (NFH`S-6), 2023–24 Chuppala Nagesh Bhushan Executive Summary The National Family Health Survey-6 (NFHS-6), released by India's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) in May 2026, is a landmark dataset covering 6.79 lakh households across 715 districts for the survey period 2023–24. As the first comprehensive health survey conducted after the COVID-19 pandemic, it offers a pivotal snapshot of India's evolving public health landscape. The picture it paints is simultaneously encouraging and sobering — a story of triumph and of unfinished business. India has made genuine, hard-won progress in child health, maternal care, immunisation, and demographic transition. Stunting among children under five has fallen from 35.5% to 29.3%; severe wasting has more than halved in relative terms; institutional...