Shaping India’s path to inclusive health care

Health Equity:

• Ensuring equal opportunity for optimal health, addressing social, economic, and environmental factors.

India’s health equity challenges:

• Urban slums, exhibit health disparities due to overcrowding and poor sanitation.
• Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes lag on health indicators.
• Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) account for over 60% of all fatalities.
• India suffers from a critical shortage of doctors, particularly in rural areas.

Existing steps to ensure equity:

• Ayushman Bharat offer free health coverage to economically disadvantaged groups.
• National Health Mission aims to bridge rural-urban healthcare.

The way ahead:

• Collaboration among government, public, private, and NGO sectors.
• Innovation, especially in digital health.
• Evidence-based insights for policies and practices.

Source: The Hindu