Mathur Ritika Passi

Care Corners, 550 Special Newborn Care
Units and 1,810 Newborn Stabilisation Units
operational to provide care for sick newborns
across the country. 9 Additionally, promoting
infant and young child feeding in partnership
with hospitals is improving nutrition status
of infants.
Target 3.3
One of the biggest health sector achievements
in India has been the complete eradication
of polio. India’s effective management of
the Pulse Polio drive under the guidance
of the United Nations Children’s Fund
(UNICEF) has resulted in the World Health
Organization (WHO) officially declaring
India polio-free in March 2014.
The National AIDS Control Programme has
been playing a significant role in bringing
down the number of annual new infections.
Collaborations, such as the one with UNICEF
for spreading awareness and another with
Hindustan Latex Limited regarding condom
vending machines, have resulted in changing
behaviour and attitudes towards sexual
health. While high prevalence states like
Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka
and Tamil Nadu have witnessed a significant
drop in new infections, the contribution of
low prevalence states has been high at 57%
in 2011. This warrants a shift of focus to
the low prevalence areas. Free first-line and
second-line Anti-Retroviral Treatment (ART)
through ART centres and Link ART Centres,
Centres of Excellence and ART plus centres
have been successful in reducing the number
of AIDS-related deaths. Promoting these
initiatives will improve statistics further.
The National Vector Borne Disease Control
Programme is an umbrella programme
operating largely in rural, tribal and urban
slum areas to prevent and control vectorborne
diseases. Together with schemes like
Urban Malaria Scheme, vector control
is achieved through various clinical and
legislative methods. The National Policy
on Malaria brought out in 2013 has been
drafted after having made note of both
availability of more effective anti-malarial
drugs as well as levels of drug resistance in
the country for effective treatment of the
disease. India has set a national target of
reaching pre-elimination, the second step
in the four-step programme, by 2017 in its
course towards a malaria-free status. To
achieve this target, all Indian states, and all
districts within, will need to arrive at an
annual parasite incidence (API)—confirmed
cases during one year—of less than one per
1,000. At present, 74% of India’s more than
650 districts already boast of an API of less
than one. 10
In two decades, from 1990 to 2011, TB
prevalence has seen a reduction of more than
50%. 11 India’s research in TB has benefitted
patients across the world, and yet the disease
has not been eradicated. Since 2006, the
country has been under universal coverage
of the Directly Observed Treatment, Short-
Course, a systematic strategy to combat the
disease. The Indian Revised National TB
Control Programme is further widening its
scope to reach out to all patients, with special
provisions to extend services to marginalised
sections of the society.
Target 3.4
India saw the growth of life expectancy
by eight years, from 58.5 years in 1990 to
66.4 years in 2013. 12 Non-communicable
diseases take the largest toll on the health
of the Indian population, constituting 52%
of deaths in the country. 13 Approved in
March 2006, the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya
Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) seeks to augment
the availability of affordable healthcare
facilities across the country and improve the
state of medical education in underserved
states in particular. With an expanding
reach of healthcare facilities, prevention and
treatment of non-communicable diseases is
likely to be better managed. 14
Around 20% of Indians suffer from mental
ailments during their lifespan and at any
point of time, there are 72 million people
suffering from some form of mental illness.
In October 2014, the government launched
its first National Mental Health Policy,
which aims to provide universal access to
mental healthcare. The comprehensive plan
includes modernising existing facilities,
enabling hospitals to start providing mental
healthcare, reaching out to vulnerable groups
and decriminalising suicide.
Target 3.5
Around three million people have been
estimated to be dependent on drugs (0.3%
of the population). India’s proximity to the
major poppy-growing areas of the world
makes it vulnerable to drug abuse along
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