Eleventh Five Year Plan

3Health and Family Welfare and AYUSH3.1 HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFAREINTRODUCTION3.1.1 The health of a nation is an essential componentof development, vital to the nation’s economicgrowth and internal stability. Assuring a minimal levelof health care to the population is a critical constituentof the development process.3.1.2 Since Independence, India has built up a vasthealth infrastructure and health personnel at primary,secondary, and tertiary care in public, voluntary, andprivate sectors. For producing skilled human resources,a number of medical and paramedical institutionsincluding Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani,Siddha, and Homeopathy (AYUSH) institutions havebeen set up.3.1.3 Considerable achievements have been made overthe last six decades in our efforts to improve healthstandards, such as life expectancy, child mortality,infant mortality, and maternal mortality. Small pox andguinea worm have been eradicated and there is hopethat poliomyelitis will be contained in the near future.Nevertheless, problems abound. Malnutrition affectsa large proportion of children. An unacceptably highproportion of the population continues to suffer anddie from new diseases that are emerging; apart fromcontinuing and new threats posed by the existing ones.Pregnancy and childbirth related complications alsocontribute to the suffering and mortality.3.1.4 The strong link between poverty and ill healthneeds to be recognized. The onset of a long andexpensive illness can drive the non-poor into poverty.Ill health creates immense stress even among thosewho are financially secure. High health care costs canlead to entry into or exacerbation of poverty. Theimportance of public provisioning of quality healthcare to enable access to affordable and reliable heathservices cannot be underestimated. This is specially so,in the context of preventing the non-poor from enteringinto poverty or in terms of reducing the sufferingof those who are already below poverty line.3.1.5 The country has to deal with rising costs of healthcare and growing expectations of the people. The challengeof quality health services in remote rural regionshas to be urgently met. Given the magnitude of theproblem, we need to transform public health care intoan accountable, accessible, and affordable system ofquality services during the Eleventh Five Year Plan.VISION FOR HEALTH3.1.6 The Eleventh Five Year Plan will provide anopportunity to restructure policies to achieve a NewVision based on faster, broad-based, and inclusivegrowth. One objective of the Eleventh Five Year Plan isto achieve good health for people, especially the poorand the underprivileged. In order to do this, a comprehensiveapproach is needed that encompassesindividual health care, public health, sanitation,clean drinking water, access to food, and knowledge of