India unlikely to meet sustainable development goals on health by 2030: CAG

In 2015, India spent 1% of its GDP on public health, the second-lowest in the southeast Asia region, according to data cited in the National Health Profile 2018

India has a “long way to go” to achieve its target of public health spending, its primary health infrastructure is inadequate, and the country faces a dearth of data to track its progress to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for health by 2030, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, the government’s auditor, has said.

 

These gaps “represent risks for the achievement of the key objectives of the 2030 Agenda”, the CAG said in a July 8, 2019, report.

While the health ministry proposed to increase India’s public health expenditure to 2.5% of its