Edition 12 | August 16, 2022 | |
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Dear Friends,
Happy 75th Anniversary of Indian Independence!
As India celebrates its independence, members of The Lancet Citizens’ Commission on Reimagining India’s Health System have argued that this is a historic opportunity to reassert the country’s commitment to realising universal health coverage (UHC) in a recent Comment published in the Lancet.
Please join us for a webinar on 'Disease-specific Experiences in the Journey to Universal Health Coverage' on August 23, 2022, at 5:30 PM IST/ 8 AM ET. It is the first webinar in a three-part series by the Lancet Citizens’ Commission to commemorate the 75th year of Indian independence. Additionally, this edition focuses on the role of teleradiology in access to primary healthcare, the importance of ASHA for the elderly, the common myths about blood shortage in India, and more. As a Citizens’ Commission, we invite the public to participate, provide input and continue to engage with this new initiative.
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The milestone of India’s 75th anniversary of independence on Aug 15, 2022, offers an opportunity to reassert the country’s commitment to realising universal health coverage (UHC). The authors note that the country has made significant improvements on many health indicators since independence. However, compared to other regional and middle-income countries, India’s trajectory has lagged, and more needs to be done. | | |
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The webinar is a joint Lancet Citizens’ Commission on Reimagining India’s Health System event with the Population Foundation of India. This webinar will focus on the experiences of individuals with a lived incident of the Indian health care system and reflect on the key changes that they would like to see in the goal of achieving universal health coverage. The webinar provides a unique opportunity to learn from, and interact directly with, leaders and advocates who can help identify specific barriers that disease-specific groups face when accessing the health care system, and the obstacles they face in translating access/consumption of services into benefit. | |
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Common myths on blood shortage in India
The shortage of blood products has been a major public health problem in India. It is estimated that nearly 12,000 people lose their lives every single day due to the lack of blood products. Space crunch and a burgeoning population have led to the establishment of health care facilities without blood centres on their premises, which in turn depend on nearby blood or storage centres for access to safe blood, write Dr Parth Sharma, Ranita De, and Dr Vaikunth Ramesh.
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Teleradiology’s role in access to primary health care
Teleradiology has been at the forefront of the telemedicine revolution, and a review of its value proposition in addressing our current healthcare challenges seems appropriate at this time, write Dr Arjun Kalyanpur.
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Affordable technology for neuro-rehabilitation in LMICs
Technology for neurorehabilitation comes in various forms designed to address the different needs of the end users – patients, caregivers, and clinicians. Most LMICs have to import these technologies from developed countries, thus making them expensive and unaffordable for the end user, write Dorcas BC Gandhi, Dr Sivakumar Balasubramaniun and Dr John M Solomon.
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The need of the hour: ASHA for elderly
India’s ingenuity in leveraging community resources to address her complex problems presents a unique opportunity to make her a country which offers a hopeful future for both her elderly and her young people, writes Vikram Patel.
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Global Health Treaty to prevent pandemics and regulate antibiotic use
There’s a need for greater international cooperation in pandemic prevention, not just pandemic response. There’s a need for agreement on land and animal management, regulation of animal wet markets and measures to contain deforestation to prevent cross-species zoonotic spillover of microbes. Of course, we must regulate the use of antibiotics to reduce the danger of anti-microbial resistance, writes K Srinath Reddy.
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Commission Members in Spotlight | |
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"The main obstacle to achieving UHC in India is the existing gap between policy formulation and execution. Even though we have progressive policies, they are frequently not put into practise as intended and do not necessarily deliver the desired health outcomes, such as decreased health inequity. Inadequate funding for health care, poor care quality, and enduring gender-based disparities that frequently prohibit women from receiving health services are some of the causes of these implementation gaps," says Poonam Muttreja, Executive Director, Population Foundation of India
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"Regarding India’s overall financial portfolio, there is less focus on public spending in different areas such as health workforce, surgical care, mental health and tribal health. We need extensive expenditure to enhance our developmental health performance. We also need to ensure that we have suitable mechanisms for investing that money and a robust rationalization of allocation. We not only need to spend more but we also need to be cautious about how we spend our money," says Siddesh Zadey, Co-founder, Association for Socially Applicable Research (ASAR – असर), Pune, Maharashtra, India | | | |
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Association for Socially Applicable Research (ASAR) aims to create and communicate evidence for shaping public ideas to influence better policies. The initiative is providing research support to the Human Resources for Health (HRH) workstream of the Commission. | |
We love hearing back from you! Please send your comments, suggestions, and contributions for these newsletters, including research highlights and published features to info@citizenshealth.in
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