Open AccessIssues in Public Health in India - Keynote address by Keshav Desiraju, Former Secretary of Health and Family Welfare to the Government of India
Author(s) -
Keshav Desiraju
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.916
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1741-3850
pISSN - 1741-3842
DOI - 10.1093/pubmed/fdab305
Subject(s) - public health , government (linguistics) , economic growth , health care , politics , communicable disease , population , welfare , medicine , political science , public administration , environmental health , nursing , economics , law , linguistics , philosophy
The state of public health in India can be studied in terms of disease burden, health human resources and health care financing. There are many regional variations within these broad areas, and many complexities. Communicable and non-communicable diseases remain major challenges, as do maternal and infant mortality. At every level, trained human resources are scarce. Government budgetary resources are inadequate and the current discussion in India on universal health care appears to be biased towards privately provided care. At the same time, there have been remarkable achievements, often diminished by the size of India’s population. Public health is about social justice and the task before India today is to demonstrate the political will, the administrative ability and the democratic vision to achieve universal health care. Can this come about?