WHO says India needs to invest more in public healthcare and build a robust health delivery system in all aspects, including infrastructure and human resources, with special focus on rural areas. WHO Representative to India Henk Bekedam said though India has made enormous progress in the healthcare sector in recent past, still 60 million people are in poverty through paying healthcare bills because of the country’s low investment in health, inadequate financial protection and high out-of-pocket
expenditure.
He praised India for combating HIV, TB and malaria as as well as the avertable maternal and child mortality. He calls for increased investments in health, strengthening the systems to detect and respond to outbreaks as has been demonstrated from global experiences with SARS, pandemic A/H1N1, H5N1, Nepal earthquake and Ebola. He asks for a coordinated multi sectoral response to face the emerging threat of lifestyle diseases in India.