Public heatlh a Disaster

The majority of the people living in India have yet to reach the Utopian ideal of health for all, despite many decades of planning and implementation of program's. This article re-examines the issues. The survival of the human body is best explained by the material explanation that argues that the variation in health and longevity is related to tangible resources. The reciprocal association between poverty and disease had been recognized by public health reformers in the west, who advocated social reform on political, economic, humanitarian, and scientific grounds.

Successive governments in India have, over the past five decades, proposed and implemented many schemes for the provision of safe water, sanitation, nutrition, vaccination coverage, education, and employment. Yet millions of people do not have access to these basic needs. Malnutrition is rampant among children; vaccination coverage is inadequate; elementary education second rate; and unemployment widespread in the rural areas and among the poor. Nevertheless, most States have pursued weak policies in this area and neglected the local governments, giving them a low stake in improving infrastructure despite increased budgetary support. The size of the unfinished tasks is mind-boggling.

The social, economic, and political context during the public health revolution in the west, when public health became part of their way of life, differed markedly from the situation in the developing world