April 7, 2025
A health care system is only as strong as the people who run it. Yet, for many female health care professionals, unsafe workplaces, inadequate facilities, and systemic barriers make it harder to provide quality care. A strong health care system must be safe, inclusive, and accessible for all. Gender-responsive infrastructure plays a critical role in ensuring that patients receive dignified care and that health care professionals work in secure environments. Yet, in many health care settings across India, gender disparities in infrastructure continue to create barriers for both those seeking care and those providing it. Without a deliberate shift toward health care infrastructure that is gender equitable and responsive, health care spaces will continue to perpetuate inequities rather than bridging them.
January 17, 2025
India is on a mission to provide equitable and accessible healthcare to its 1.4 billion people. With ambitious schemes like Ayushman Bharat and the National Health Mission (NHM), the government has taken significant steps to improve public health. Yet, a glaring reality persists: healthcare spending in India remains inefficient, and millions of rupees go underutilized […]
September 17, 2024
In the heart of India, women are the backbone of the agricultural sector, playing a crucial role in ensuring the country's food security. Yet, their contributions often go unnoticed and unacknowledged, leaving them marginalized and under-resourced. They face numerous challenges, intensified by market fluctuations, climate change, and restrictive social norms. This article explores their struggles and resilience, offering data and policy recommendations to present a full picture of the challenges and potential of India’s women farmers.
May 22, 2024
The National Health Authority (NHA) is the nodal agency which introduced the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) also known as Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission in India. The Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) aims to establish a nationwide digital health ecosystem. It seeks to enhance the lives of its residents by connecting hospitals with digital health solutions throughout India and streamlining hospital operations. Additionally, it seeks to build a platform that would enable health data to be interchangeable across the health ecosystem, giving each citizen access to a continuous Electronic Health Record (EHR).
May 22, 2024
Community Action for Health (CAH) functions as a key component under the National Health Mission (NHM), placing people at the center of the process of ensuring that the health needs and rights of the community are being fulfilled. The right to health serves as a cornerstone of social justice, encapsulating the right of people everywhere to have access to quality health services, good nutrition, education and freedom from discrimination. This year’s World Health Day also emphasized the importance of the right to health, with the theme ‘My Health, My Right’. A key method to strengthen not just the right to health but also the systems supporting health services is to ensure strong community engagement in the implementation of health-related services and policies. Engaging communities is widely believed to have a positive impact on the effectiveness of health programmes, enhancing social capital, community empowerment and an improved health status with reduced inequalities.
May 8, 2024
The pursuit of polio eradication in India stands as a landmark chapter in the nation’s public health history, marked by unprecedented efforts and adaptability. In my years at the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, I faced challenges that highlighted the complexity of the mission. Polio eradication was a critical national health initiative aligning with […]
