Current Affairs 08.04.2024

Bold Ias Academy

1. Indian Heritage

• Culture

• Modern Indian history

• The Freedom Struggle

• Post-independence

• Indian Society

A. population and associated issues

B. poverty and developmental issues

C.urbanization

   7. Geographical features

8.Indian Constitution

9. Polity

10. Governance

A. institutions

B. regulatory

C. Government policies

D. role of NGOs

E. measures

11. Social Justice

A. Welfare schemes

B Health

Shaping India’s path to inclusive health care

India’s health equity issues require a comprehensive approach that goes beyond improvements in health-care facilities

World Health Day, which is observed every year on April 7, unites us around health equity, an essential topic at the heart of global health and justice. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared health to be a fundamental human right. The theme this year is “My Health, My Right”.

There is an alarming gap in healthcare access, highlighted by the COVID19 epidemic, environmental crises, and growing socioeconomic gaps. Even though over 140 nations recognise health as a constitutional right, the WHO Council on the Economics of Health for All reports that more than half the world’s population needs complete access to essential health services. With the passage of World Health Day 2024, it is clear that promoting health equity is a source of optimism for millions of people, going beyond social justice or legislative change.

The meaning of health equity

Health equity ensures that every person has an equal opportunity to achieve their highest health potential, no matter what their circumstances. Recognising that social, economic, and environmental factors impact health outcomes, this idea goes beyond genetics. WHO’s mission is to eliminate unfair and preventable disparities in health among different social and economic categories.

True health equity addresses the root causes of health inequities such as poverty, discrimination, limited access to highquality education, a healthy diet, clean water, fresh air, and housing, and merely grants equal access to health care.

For example, a child born into poverty in a rural area has no access to clean water, wholesome food, or immunisations, which lays the foundation for chronic health problems.

These differences are made worse by pandemics, climate change, and sociopolitical unrest. India is diverse and has wide socioeconomic gaps. Thus this predicament strikes a chord. Access to health care in rural areas is significantly less than in metropolitan areas. Social and economic barriers exacerbate this disparity.

To guarantee that everyone may live a healthy life, attaining health equity necessitates a comprehensive strategy that goes beyond legislative reform to address the socioeconomic determinants of health. Realising each person’s potential for health demands a concerted effort by governments, communities, and individuals to tear down these obstacles.

The road to health equity is fraught with difficulties, ranging from deeply ingrained social injustices to global systemic health concerns, particularly in multicultural countries such as India. Diverse populations need help to get access to highquality health care in this place.

The global challenges are: The fight for health equity confronts global challenges that transcend borders and call for collective international action. The COVID19 pandemic has starkly revealed that infectious diseases target marginalised and vulnerable groups the most, thus widening the health equity gap. Climate change poses a serious health risk since it disproportionately impacts lowincome and vulnerable people. The healthcare provision is severely hampered by conflicts, which destroy infrastructure, uproot communities, and shut off access to vital medical services.

India’s health equity challenge

With a large and diversified population, India faces persistent obstacles to health equity, including notable differences in healthcare outcomes and access. Even though access to health care has improved over the past 20 years, there is still much work to be done in rural India. According to the 2011 Census, urban slums make up over 17% of India’s metropolitan areas, and exhibit serious health disparities. Health risks are increased by overcrowding, poor sanitation, and restricted access to clean water. Infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis, are 1.5 times more common in slums than in nonslum areas, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research.

Disparities across caste and gender are profound. National Family Health Survey

(NFHS)5 (201921) data indicates that Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes experience higher child mortality and lower immunisation rates. Additionally, 59% of women in the lowest wealth quintile suffer from anaemia, almost double the rate in the highest quintile, demonstrating the intersection of caste, gender, and economic status in health outcomes.

Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) account for more than 60% of all fatalities in India. The Public Health Foundation of India points out the necessity for equitable treatment access and preventive health care, stating that the economic effect of NCDs could surpass $6 trillion by 2030.

C. Education

D. Human Resources

E. poverty and hunger

12. International relations

A. India and its neighbourhood

B. groupings and agreements

C.Indian diaspora

13. Economic Development

A. Government Budgeting

B. industrial

E.issues

14. Technology

15. Environment

Awareness about pollutionrelated terms significantly low, says survey

Awareness about air pollutionrelated terminologies, such as air quality index and particulate matter, is “significantly” low among the urban poor in DelhiNCR, according to a survey.

The study, conducted from December 2023 to January 2024, covered 500 people in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) cities of Noida, Ghaziabad,

Faridabad and Gurugram.

For the survey, respondents were divided into two groups — residents of informal settlements and slums, and formal middleclass settlements.

“Only 10% of people in the first group were aware of air pollution terms like AQI (air quality index) and PM 2.5, while 71% of middleclass settlements were aware,” the survey ‘Saaf Saans’, conducted by NGO Chintan Environmental Research and Action

Group revealed.

The study’s findings also highlighted that 33% of urban poor respondents perceived vehicles as the main cause of air pollution, 27% construction activities, and 20% stubble burning.

“Middleclass respondents used air purifiers and indoor plants as measures to reduce exposure to air pollution, while the urban poor depended on face masks and increased water intake,” the survey added.

16. Security

17. Disaster Management

Beat the heat

With the advent of summer, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has warned that more heatwaves are likely than last year. Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra are expected to be particularly vulnerable. Heatwave days are defined as when day temperatures in a place are at least 4.5° C above normal or greater than 45° C on two consecutive days. For several years on the trot now, the IMD has been forecasting hotter summers. The causes are multifold. India is battling an El Niño wave, that, in most years, dries up rainfall and contributes to elevated temperatures. Though the El Niño and its converse, La Niña, are cyclical, there is also the larger phenomenon of warming temperatures (El Niño) causing accelerated melting in the Arctic, a drying up of moistureladen tropical wind and, consequently, fewer clouds, and, thus, dry, baking ground temperatures.

This year, the weather agency’s warnings are more portentous as millions are expected to queue up outside polling stations in India over several afternoons in April and May. Last April, at a midday, openair public, political function in Navi Mumbai, 12 people died due to dehydration and 600 had to be hospitalised. Some of the speakers in fact congratulated the crowd for ‘braving’ the heat before the disaster unfolded. This highlights the degree of disregard that the governmental machinery accords to the publichealth impacts of heatwaves. This election year, for instance, the Election Commission of India had already issued an advisory to its State electoral officers — ahead of the IMD’s public heat warnings — to prepare for the polls amid blistering heat. The trouble is that these advisories are too generic. There is a perfunctory note to provide for oral rehydration supplements and mothers to avoid bringing children with them to the polling booths. There is no requirement that polling stations prioritise cooling beyond the confines of the rooms where the officers are seated. There has been, for many years, a suggestion, even by prominent politicians, for elections to be held in the relatively more clement months of FebruaryMarch or OctoberNovember but it is one that loses traction almost immediately after the polls. India’s size and logistical challenges have seen the electoral process innovate and adopt measures such as multiphase polling and even the use of electronic ballots. With temperature records collapsing every year and the links between heatwaves, climate and health becoming even more explicit, it is time that the electoral process mulls over creative ways to account for the crisis.