NATIONAL HEALTH POLICY 2017

NATIONAL HEALTH POLICY 2017

The policy envisages as its goal the attainment of the highest possible level of health and well-being for all at all ages, through a preventive and promotive health care orientation in all developmental policies, and universal access to good quality health care services without anyone having to face financial hardship as a consequence. This would be achieved through increasing access, improving quality and lowering the cost of healthcare delivery.

The policy aims to improve health status through concerted policy action in all sectors and expand preventive, promotive, curative, palliative and rehabilitative services provided through the public health sector with focus on quality.

Features of National Health Policy

I. Professionalism, Integrity and Ethics: The health policy commits itself to the highest professional standards, integrity and ethics to be maintained in the entire system of health care delivery in the country, supported by a credible, transparent and responsible regulatory environment.

II. Equity: Reducing inequity would mean affirmative action to reach the poorest. It would mean minimizing disparity on account of gender, poverty, caste, disability, other forms of social exclusion and geographical barriers. It would imply greater investments and financial protection for the poor who suffer the largest burden of disease.

III. Affordability: As costs of care increases, affordability, as distinct from equity, requires emphasis. Catastrophic household health care expenditures defined as health expenditure exceeding 10% of its total monthly consumption expenditure or 40% of its monthly non-food consumption expenditure, are unacceptable.

IV. Universality: Prevention of exclusions on social, economic or on grounds of current health status. In this backdrop, systems and services are envisaged to be designed to cater to the entire population- including special groups.

V. Patient Centered & Quality of Care: Gender sensitive, effective, safe, and convenient healthcare services to be provided with dignity and confidentiality. There is need to evolve and disseminate standards and guidelines for all levels of facilities and a system to ensure that the quality of healthcare is not compromised.

VI. Accountability: Financial and performance accountability, transparency in decision making, and elimination of corruption in health care systems, both in public and private.

VII. Inclusive Partnerships: A multistakeholder approach with partnership & participation of all non-health ministries and communities. This approach would include partnerships with academic institutions, not for profit agencies, and health care industry as well.

VIII. Pluralism: Patients who so choose and when appropriate, would have access to AYUSH care providers based on documented and validated local, home and community based practices. These systems, inter alia, would also have Government support in research and supervision to develop and enrich their contribution to meeting the national health goals and objectives through integrative practices.

IX. Decentralization: Decentralisation of decision making to a level as is consistent with practical considerations and institutional capacity. Community participation in health planning processes, to be promoted side by side.

X. Dynamism and Adaptiveness: constantly improving dynamic organization of health care based on new knowledge and evidence with learning from the communities and from national and international knowledge partners is designed.

Expected Outcomes of the Policy

Core Outcomes

1. Progressively achieve Universal Health Coverage

2. Reinforcing trust in Public Health Care System

3. Align the growth of private health care sector with public health goals:

4. Increase Life Expectancy at birth from 67.5 to 70 by 2025.

5. Establish regular tracking of Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALY) Index as a measure of burden of disease and its trends by major categories by 2022.

6. Reduce Under Five Mortality to 23 by 2025 and MMR from current levels to 100 by 2020.

7. Reduce infant mortality rate to 28 by 2019.

8. Reduce neo-natal mortality to 16 and still birth rate to “single digit” by 2025.

9. Achieve global target of 2020 which is also termed as target of 90:90:90, for HIV/AIDS i. e,- 90% of all people living with HIV know their HIV status, - 90% of all people diagnosed with HIV infection receive sustained antiretroviral therapy and 90% of all people receiving antiretroviral therapy will have viral suppression.

10. Achieve and maintain elimination status of Leprosy by 2018, Kala-Azar by 2017 and Lymphatic Filariasis in endemic pockets by 2017.

11. To achieve and maintain a cure rate of >85% in new sputum positive patients for TB and reduce incidence of new cases, to reach elimination status by 2025.

12. To reduce the prevalence of blindness to 0.25/ 1000 by 2025 and disease burden by one third from current levels.

13. To reduce premature mortality from cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes or chronic respiratory diseases by 25% by 2025.

14. Increase utilization of public health facilities by 50% from current levels by 2025.

15. Antenatal care coverage to be sustained above 90% and skilled attendance at birth above 90% by 2025.

16. More than 90% of the newborn are fully immunized by one year of age by 2025.

17. Meet need of family planning above 90% at national and sub national level by 2025.

18. 80% of known hypertensive and diabetic individuals at household level maintain, controlled disease status‟ by 2025.

19. Relative reduction in prevalence of current tobacco use by 15% by 2020 and 30% by 2025.

Health Finance

a. Increase health expenditure by Government as a percentage of GDP from the existing 1.15% to 2.5 % by 2025.

b. Increase State sector health spending to > 8% of their budget by 2020.

Health Infrastructure and Human Resource

a. Ensure availability of paramedics and doctors as per Indian Public Health Standard (IPHS) norm in high priority districts by 2020.

b. Increase community health volunteers to population ratio as per IPHS norm, in high priority districts by 2025.

c. Establish primary and secondary care facility as per norms in high priority districts (population as well as time to reach norms) by 2025.

Health Management Information

a. Ensure district-level electronic database of information on health system components by 2020.

b. Strengthen the health surveillance system and establish registries for diseases of public health importance by 2020.

c. Establish federated integrated health information architecture, Health Information Exchanges and National Health Information Network by 2025.

Other areas such as:

Focus on medical education, retaining doctors in remote areas, availability of mid-level service providers, certification programme for ASHA nursing workers, impart paramedic skills, promotion of make in India health facilities, food safety, drug regulation., clinical trial regulation, drug pricing, digital health technology, health surveys, AYUSH (Ayurvedic, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani Siddha and Homeopathy)

Source: Government of India