Health policy in India: some critical concerns

Abstract

It is ironic that a major emerging economy like India should have health indicators that are similar to those found in Kenya, Madagascar, and Myanmar (WHO, 2013), low-income countries with half or under half of India’s gross domestic product (GDP) per capita (World Bank, 2014). In 2011, the country’s infant and under-5 mortality rates (at 47 and 61 per 1,000 live births) were worse than those found in all other BRICS countries and among the worst third of all 195 WHO member countries (WHO, 2013; see also Chapter 6 by Benoit et al., and Chapter 12 by Asakitikpi). The estimated maternal mortality ratio (200 per 100,000 live births) fared only marginally better. Although these rates and ratios have fallen over time, they nevertheless translate, in a population of over 1.2 billion, into thousands of preventable deaths.