Public health needs a public revolution

People need to play a larger role for public health care schemes to bear fruit

The World Health Organisation came in to being 70 years ago with the objective of “attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health”. A few months earlier, India had turned independent. At the time, the average life expectancy of Indians was 32 years, a figure which has doubled. Infant mortality rate and maternal mortality rate have decreased since Independence by one-fourth, and one-eleventh, respectively. Of late, there is a growing focus on health in mainstream public discourse courtesy the National Health Protection Mission, which was approved by the Cabinet in March. The Aspirational Districts Programme, and the