USAID effectively ran India's NFHS from 1990s, influenced our national health responses: Sanjeev Sanyal

Sanjeev Sanyal, advisor to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Monday raised concerns over USAID’s involvement in India’s health policies.

Pointing to USAID’s past role in India’s National Family Health Survey (NFHS), Sanyal said those concerned about the US agency’s interference in Indian elections “should be equally concerned about USAID's tentacles” in India's medical system and social policies.

The USAID is at the centre of a political firestorm after the Trump administration shut it down as an independent agency. The US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by Elon Musk announced the cancellation of funds for various countries, including US $21 million intended to “boost voter turnout in India".

“USAID effectively ran India's National Family Health Survey (NFHS) from the 1990s till it was stopped two years ago. This is the most important medical dataset in India and drives a lot of health policy. Not only were we allowing a foreign agency to harvest our medical data but, by allowing them to design surveys and direct analysis, we were letting them influence our national health responses,” said Sanyal in a post in X.

According to Sanyal, much of the NFHS questionnaire was deliberately skewed to support certain social narratives. “The questionnaire for men, for instance, is only 29 pages but that for women is 94 pages. A lot of the additional questions are deliberately worded to elicit a narrative of intra-family violence against Indian women. Must say, very slyly done,” he added.