Health for all: A much needed reform in India “Swastha bharat, Surakshit bharat”

 India is an embodiment of diversity with different people with different cultures strung together with diverse geographical phenomena. Meeting the needs of such a huge and diverse population is itself an uphill task. Indeed, the country has various systems in place to mitigate the challenges coming to the fore but there is a need for an agile, comprehensive and efficient systems fulfilling the needs of such a large population.

7^th April, 1948 was the day when all the countries globally came to the consensus to form World Health Organization to promote health and serve the vulnerable sections and ensure that everybody can attain the highest level of health. This year’s theme is reinvigorated by the Alma Ata Declaration of Health for All. It has become more pertinent now, when countries across the world have crumbled down on their knees before the unforgettable pandemic, which has exposed the inequities embedded in the health systems and caused hardships in every spheres of life. The impending gaps exposed by the pandemic has channelized the beautiful minds of the world to work towards equitable and peaceful society devoid of unhealthy lives, economic hardships and social deprivation.

Health for all can’t be achieved in isolation. The concept itself is intertwined with several factors like socio-economic phenomenon, accessibility of good, quality health services, digital penetration, etc. The minimum understanding of all these essential components will eventually drive us towards achieving the sustainable development goals. Secondly, the scarce resources in health end up reaching only a few and leaving the vast majority deprived. Primary health care approach would aid in uprooting this grave issue. India believes in the core policy of cooperative federalism. It’s time for all the states to emulate how Kerala and Tamil Nadu have broken the barriers to possess the country’s best health systems. Not only this, it’s quite a high time to introspect about the laggards in the policies. Streamlining the social determinants of health is an answer to achieve Health for all which we failed to achieve a decade ago. Focus on Jan Bhagidari (clarion call by the Prime Minister of India) should be the cornerstone of our work towards Sustainable India.

Pic: Training of Asha Sanginis in HWC, Sonbhadra (left), VHND: Anganwadi centres as forums for promoting better health and nutrition (right).

 

 

India is getting back on its feet after absorbing the shocks caused in recent past. Need of the hour is to transition towards achieving the sustainable development goals soon. Since India mirrors the global picture, and is surely accelerating towards positive direction through some of its inclusive reforms like Ayushman Bharat, Ujjwala Yojana, POSHAN Abhiyan, and other schemes, but re-articulation of the system is a much needed thing to achieve to imbibe the core essence of health for all. In order to build a safer and healthier India, strengthening the health systems with bottom-up approach ie community participation is a pivotal key step towards ensuring an equitable and resilient India with a core agenda of “Swastha Bharat, Surakshit Bharat”.

 

An essay by Ms. Sarva Priya (MPH’21-23)