National Health Policy 2017

The National Health Policy 2017

The main objectives of the National Health Policy 2017 are as following:

• To achieve Universal Health Coverage by assuring the availability of free, comprehensive primary health care services, ensuring improved access and affordability, of quality secondary and tertiary care, achieving a significant reduction in out of pocket expenditure due to health care costs.

• To make a predictable, efficient, patient-centric, affordable and effective health care system.

• Bringing in healthy and vital private sector contribution.

• Bring a policy thrust by –
1. By increasing public investment (raise it to 5% of the GDP).

2. To coordinate various non-health departments to improve the environment for health (by linking areas like – Swatch Bharath, balanced diet, reduced stress at workplace, Yatri Suraksha etc).

3. Incorporating health education as part of the curriculum, promoting hygiene and safe health practices within the school environs and by acting as a site of primary health care and also promoting healthy practices via AYUSH and Yoga at workplaces and schools.

4. Organising public health care delivery.
• To enhance National health programs.
• Utilising the potential of AYUSH and mainstreaming it.• Improving women health and addressing gender violence.Initiatives like Janani Suraksha Yojana, new norms of addressing domestic violence, family planning program etc. can go a long way.

• Enhancing tertiary care services – via specialized consultative and intensive care facilities, tertiary services via advanced medical colleges and health institutes.

• Improving the healthcare personals by-

1. providing better health education
2. incentivising doctors for rural services
3. enhancing nursing and other paramedical services
4. developing and encouraging ASHA volunteers.

• Collaborating with non-governmental organisations and private sector to –

1. Train, encourage skill development programs
2. Utilise and direct Corporate social responsibility into health investments
3. Encourage the personnel training in mental health care and disaster management etc.

• Establishing a strong regulatory framework to include regulation of clinical establishments, professional and technical education, food safety, medical technologies, medical products, clinical trials, research and implementation of other health-related laws.
• Involving and providing more role to local self-governments, bringing in decentralisation and enhancing accountability of government institutions to ensure effective efficient delivery of services.

Strengthen our health system

1. Increase Life Expectancy at birth from 67.5 to 70 by 2025.
2. Establish regular tracking of Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALY) Index as a measure of the burden of disease and its trends by major categories by 2022.
3. Reduction of TFR to 2.1 at national and sub-national level by 2025.
4. Reduce under Five Mortality to 23 by 2025 and MMR from current levels to 100 by 2020.
5. Reduce infant mortality rate to 28 by 2019.
6. Reduce neonatal mortality to 16 and stillbirth rate to “single digit” by 2025.
7. Achieve global target of 2020 which is also termed as the 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.
8. Achieve and maintain elimination status of Leprosy by 2018, Kala-Azar by 2017 and Lymphatic Filariasis in endemic pockets by 2017.
9. To achieve and maintain a cure rate of >85% in new sputum positive patients for TB and reduce the incidence of new cases, to reach elimination status by 2025.
10. To reduce the prevalence of blindness to 0.25/ 1000 by 2025 and disease burden by one-third from current levels.
11. To reduce premature mortality from cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes or chronic respiratory diseases by 25% by 2025.

Improve health system performance

1. Increase utilization of public health facilities by 50% from current levels by 2025.
2. More than 90% of the newborn are fully immunized by one year of age by 2025
3. The relative reduction in the prevalence of current tobacco use by 15% by 2020 and 30% by 2025.
4. Reduction of 40% in the prevalence of stunting of under-five children by 2025.
5. Access to safe water and sanitation to all by 2020 (Swachh Bharat Mission).
6. Reduction of occupational injury by half from current levels of 334 per lakh agricultural workers by 2020.

Enhance health status and program impact

1. Increase health expenditure by Government as a percentage of GDP from the existing 1.15% to 2.5 % by 2025.
2. Ensure availability of paramedics and doctors as per Indian Public Health Standard (IPHS) norm in high priority districts by 2020.
3. Establish primary and secondary care facility as per norms in high priority districts (population as well as time to reach norms) by 2025.
4. Ensure district-level electronic database of information on health system components by 2020.
5. Strengthen the health surveillance system and establish registries for diseases of public health importance by 2020.

National Health Mission

• This mission is targeting universal health care, to achieve IMR, MMR, TFR targets, family welfare and infrastructure maintenance etc.

• The major components of the program are:
1. RMNCH+A services – which stands for reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health care. Programs like Janani Suraksha Yojana, the program for adolescents like addressing the problem of anaemia among adolescent girls and boys etc.
2. Communicable Diseases: The National Health Policy 2017 recognises the interrelationship between communicable disease control programs and public health system strengthening. Different programs like National Aids Control Program, National Leprosy Eradication Program, Revised Tuberculosis Control Program, National Vector Borne Disease Control Program.
3. Non-Communicable Diseases: The National Health Policy 2017 recognizes the need to halt and reverse the growing incidence of chronic diseases. Different programs through the involvement of AYUSH are taking forth to address these situations, for instance, Mission Madhumeha through Ayurveda is an example of efforts to address the issue of diabetes among people.
4. Health system improvement at rural and urban level.
5. Universal Immunisation Programme– to provide life-saving vaccines to all children across the country free of cost to protect them against Tuberculosis, Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus, Polio, Hepatitis B, Pneumonia and Meningitis, Measles, Rubella, Japanese Encephalitis (JE) and Rotavirus diarrhoea. via Mission Indra Dhanush
6. Mental Health: via new mental health policy.