Health: The Right to Wellness
Ensuring Affordable and Quality healthcare for all.
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| What are the key policy initiatives, targets, and digital healthcare platforms in India? |
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| Analyze India's public health spend trends and out-of-pocket health expenditure (OOPE). |
Public Health Expenditure (% of GDP) vs TargetLoading chart... Out-of-Pocket Expenditure (% of Total Health Expenditure)Loading chart... Source: National Health Accounts Estimates for India / NHP 2017. Key Insight: Out-of-Pocket Expenditure (OOPE) has significantly declined from 62.6% to 47.1%, driven by increased public health spending and schemes like Ayushman Bharat. However, public health spending remains constrained at 1.5% of GDP, and doubling it to the 2.5% target remains critical to ensuring full financial protection for vulnerable families. |
| What is the National Health Mission (NHM) and the targets/reforms transition under the 12th Plan? |
12th Plan Progress Indicators: Key Institutional Transitions: Key Takeaway: The 12th Plan proposed a 2.5% GDP outlay for health, which was later solidified in the National Health Policy 2017. It recognized that without doubling the public spend, 'Financial Protection' against catastrophic health shocks would remain a dream. |
| What core structural issues impact health infrastructure and delivery in India? |
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| What regulatory reforms govern medical, allied-health, and pharmacy professions, and how does PECA 2019 protect public health? |
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| What do COTPA 2003, the Epidemic Diseases (Amendment) Act 2020, and the Mental Healthcare Act 2017 provide for tobacco control, pandemic response, and mental health rights? |
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| List the related modules and key phrases for mains. |
Mains Keywords |
🧬 National Policy for Rare Diseases (NPRD) 2021 — Approval & Key Provisions 2021
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| What did the National Policy for Rare Diseases (NPRD) 2021 approve, and what were its key provisions? |
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- India has only 29,000 diagnosed haemophilia cases against an estimated 1-1.5 lakh patients, with prevalence at 1 in 10,000; treatment has shifted from on-demand therapy to prophylaxis, gene therapy, and non-factor subcutaneous therapies.
- Thalassemia Bal Sewa Yojana (TBSY), a CSR initiative by Coal India Limited launched in 2017, has completed over 800 Bone Marrow Transplants; India has approx 1.5 lakh thalassemia patients with 10,000-12,000 children born with Thalassemia Major annually.
- Kerala became the first state in India to issue a special treatment protocol and SOP for management of primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM) in 2023, reducing its fatality rate from a global 97% to 25%.
- Karnataka made all sudden heart attack deaths among people below 45 years "notifiable" to the Health Department, based on recommendations of an expert committee headed by K.S. Ravindranath which found no association between premature cardiovascular disease and COVID-19.
- The Platinum Ten Minutes standard requires medical help to reach a victim within 10 minutes; the National Ambulance Code (AIS-125) mandated by the Union government standardises ambulance design and equipment, while the Motor Vehicles Act 1988 and 2019 amendments give ambulances right of way; the State-run 108 Ambulance service deploys about 10,000 ambulances nationwide as a PPP model.
- WHO released World Mental Health Today and Mental Health Atlas 2024 showing over 1 billion people globally live with mental health disorders, the second leading cause of long-term disability; UN SDG target to reduce suicide mortality by one-third by 2030 is on track for only a 12% reduction.
- NCRB ADSI 2023 recorded 1,71,418 suicides in India (0.3% rise from 2022); highest rates in Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Sikkim, Kerala; Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, MP, Karnataka, West Bengal account for over 40% of all suicides; men formed 72.8% of victims; farmer suicides were 10,786 (6.3% of total).
- WHO estimates Indias suicide rate at 16.3 per 1,00,000, far higher than official figures; National Suicide Prevention Strategy (2022) aims to reduce deaths by 10%; government spending on mental health remains stagnant at 2% of health budgets since 2017; India has only 0.7 psychiatrists per 100,000 people against WHOs recommended 3 per 100,000.
- National Tele-Mental Health Programme (Tele-MANAS) was launched on October 10, 2022 (World Mental Health Day) as the digital arm of the District Mental Health Programme (DMHP), with NIMHANS Bengaluru as nodal centre and IIIT Bengaluru as technical partner; DMHP covers 767 districts.
🧠 National Tele Mental Health Programme — Origin Announcement (Union Budget 2022-23) 2022
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| What did the Union Budget 2022-23 (1 Feb 2022) announce for mental healthcare? |
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- In Sukdeb Saha vs State of Andhra Pradesh, the Supreme Court declared mental health a fundamental right under Article 21 and introduced binding interim "Saha Guidelines" requiring schools/colleges/hostels to build support systems, states to enforce rules within two months, and district-level monitoring committees.
- World Mental Health Day 2025 theme is "Access to Services: Mental Health in Catastrophes and Emergencies"; India has 13.7% lifetime prevalence of mental disorders; the Mental Healthcare Act 2017 covers nearly 200 million Indians, decriminalises suicide, and mandates insurance coverage; the Manodarpan programme has reached 11 crore students.
- WHOs ICD-11 includes complex PTSD, prolonged grief disorder, and gaming disorder as diagnoses, but these remain absent from Indian clinical guidelines, restricting diagnosis and care.
- India records nearly 2,00,000 new cancer cases annually with breast cancer the most common malignancy among women (22.8% of cancers in women); over 60% of Indian breast cancer patients present at Stages 3 or 4 versus 60% at Stage 0/1 in the US; India ranks third globally in total cancer cases after China and the US.
- National Academy of Medical Sciences (NAMS), an institution under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, is the nodal agency for continuing education of medical professionals and issued the NAMS Report on Breast Cancer noting more younger women diagnosed in India than high-income countries.
- Circulatory system ailments accounted for 36.4% of all medically certified deaths in India per an RGI report, 4 percentage points lower than 2022.
- India has its own India State-Level Disease Burden Initiative, a collaboration between ICMR, PHFI, and IHME, providing granular health data (using DALYs) for every Indian state, modelled on the global Global Burden of Disease initiative led by IHME at University of Washington.
- Diethylene Glycol (DEG) contamination in cough syrups (linked to child kidney deaths) is not explicitly named in the Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940 and Rules 1945, but such substances are prohibited as "adulterated" or "substandard"; Health being a State subject, CDSCO under DGHS regulates large manufacturers while State drug control officers oversee small/medium manufacturers; Drugs Controller General (India) mandated digital monitoring on ONDLS for high-risk solvent supply chains.
- 18 State drug control authorities have adopted the Online National Drugs Licensing System (ONDLS), but no State has fully complied with Corrective and Preventive Action (CAPA) guidelines under the revised Schedule M of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, which mandates enhanced Pharmaceutical Quality Systems with a compliance deadline of December 31, 2025.
- Health Ministry proposed amendments to New Drugs and Clinical Trials Rules 2019 to reduce test licence processing from 90 to 45 days and waive licence requirements for certain bioavailability/bioequivalence studies, to ease business in pharma and clinical research.
- 2026 Union Health Ministry notified key amendments to the NDCT Rules, 2019, to reduce regulatory burden and promote ease of doing business: the licensing requirement for non-commercial manufacture of drugs was replaced with a prior-intimation mechanism; amendments are expected to cut drug development timelines by at least 90 days; the statutory processing period for test licences was reduced to 45 days; and prior permission was waived for specified low-risk BA/BE studies, replaced with an online intimation mechanism.
- Health Ministry launched SHRESTH (State Health Regulatory Excellence Index), assessing 27 indices under 5 themes for manufacturing states and 23 indices for distribution states, to benchmark state drug regulatory performance.
- WHO updated its Model List of Essential Medicines (EML) to include GLP-1 receptor agonist drugs (semaglutide, dulaglutide, liraglutide, tirzepatide) for diabetes with comorbidities like obesity, recommending conditional long-term use in adults (excluding pregnant women) alongside behavioural interventions; Indias National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM), which is not mandatorily tied to EML, automatically brings NLEM drugs under price control via the Drug Price Control Order.
- Delhi High Court refused Novo Nordisk an interim injunction against Dr Reddys manufacturing/exporting a semaglutide version, holding there was no novelty in the second GLP-1 formulation, amounting to "evergreening" (double patenting), which is prohibited under Section 3(d) of the Indian Patents Act, 1970.
- Tirzepatide (Mounjaro) by Eli Lilly was approved by CDSCO as a weekly injectable for obesity and type 2 diabetes; as per NFHS 2019-21, 40% of women and 12% of men in India are abdominally obese.
- Most of Indias requirement of snake venom (for antivenom) is met by snakes captured by tribals of the Irula Snake Catchers Industrial Cooperative Society in Tamil Nadu paddy fields and scrublands.
- ICMR and Panacea Biotec are conducting Phase 3 trials (8,000 of targeted 10,000 participants enrolled) for Indias first indigenous tetravalent dengue vaccine, DangiAll; India currently has no licensed vaccine or antiviral treatment for dengue.
- ICMR announced candidate malaria vaccine AdFalciVax targeting Plasmodium falciparum; India exited WHOs High Burden to High Impact group in 2024 though 95% of its population resides in malaria-endemic areas, and targets malaria elimination by 2030; NVBDCP data shows malaria deaths in India dropped from 1,151 (1995) to 93 (2020) and 83 (2022), while WHOs World Malaria Report estimated 5,511 deaths in India in 2022.
- National Centre for Vector Borne Diseases Control (NCVBDC) operates under NHM for prevention/control of 6 major vector-borne diseases (Malaria, Dengue, Lymphatic Filariasis, Kala-azar, Japanese Encephalitis, Chikungunya), providing free diagnostics and treatment.
- Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and UNICEF announced an agreement (financed via IFFIm) to make the R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine accessible; malaria vaccines are now part of routine immunisation in 24 African countries; WHO has prequalified R21/Matrix-M (Oxford and Serum Institute of India, with Novavaxs Matrix-M adjuvant) and RTS,S/AS01 (GSK, PATH).
- Government launched the National AIDS Control Project in 1992; Tamil Nadus State AIDS Cell was converted into a Registered Society under the Societies Registration Act enabling direct fund flow, and the Gol/World Bank mandated the Tamil Nadu model for all states in the Second National AIDS Control Project (1997-2002); World AIDS Day is observed December 1.
- The 2025 Global TB Report of WHO shows 25% of global TB burden (36 million) is in India, and 7.5% of global people living with HIV are in India; TB is the most common opportunistic infection in HIV-infected people, accounting for 25% of AIDS deaths in India; India has 25-30% of the global MDR-TB burden.
- India set a target of TB elimination by 2025 (five years ahead of the global 2030 target) but has not achieved it; Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan (PMTBMBA) supports TB patient treatment; UP, Maharashtra, MP, Bihar and Rajasthan account for 56% of Indias TB infections reported in 2024.
- WHO Global Tuberculosis Report 2025: Indias TB incidence fell 21% from 2015-2024 (vs global 12% decline); treatment coverage rose to over 92% in 2024 from 53% in 2015; TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan treatment success rate rose to 90% against global 88%; TB incidence declined from 237 to 187 per lakh population (2015-2024); malnutrition accounts for nearly 40% of TB cases in India.
- In 2020, RNTCP was renamed the National TB Elimination Programme (NTEP); 1.78 lakh Ayushman Arogya Mandirs strengthened decentralised TB services; under Ni-kshay Poshan Yojana, DBT support increased from Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 per month per patient; ASHA workers trained to identify early warning signs.
- India is the only global supplier of pretomanid, a key drug in the BPaL/BPaLM regimen for drug-resistant TB; DGTR under the Commerce Ministry launched an anti-dumping investigation on imports of TB drug Ethambutol Hydrochloride from China and Thailand.
- WHO End TB strategy targets an 80% decline in new TB cases and 90% decline in TB deaths by 2030 compared to 2015; World Tuberculosis Day (March 24) marks Dr Robert Kochs 1882 discovery of the TB bacterium; theme is "Yes! We Can End TB: Commit, Invest, Deliver."
- New HIV infections per 1,000 uninfected population stood at 0.05 nationally in India in 2024, with Mizoram (0.90), Nagaland (0.42) and Tripura (0.28) reporting the highest rates; annual new cases declined nationally by around 48.70% between 2010-2024 even as they rose over 400% in Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura; annual AIDS-related mortality was 2.32 per 1,000,000 population nationally.
- Women account for 49% of total hospital admissions under Ayushman Bharat-PMJAY per the National Health Authoritys 2024-25 annual report; the scheme (launched 2018) provides Rs 5 lakh health cover per family per year; Odisha and Delhi have now been onboarded, leaving West Bengal as the only state outside the scheme among 35 States/UTs.
- Aapke Dwar Ayushman (ADA 3.0) enabled outreach via technology-led self-registration campaigns; the 2023 interim Budget included 37 lakh families of frontline workers (ASHAs, Anganwadi workers/helpers) into AB-PMJAY; in 2024 the scheme was extended to all citizens aged 70 and above irrespective of income.
- Government proposed winding down the WHO-established National Polio Surveillance Network (launched 2004 with World Bank assistance), integrating polio surveillance into the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP); India was declared polio-free in 2014; recommendation to shift from oral polio vaccine (OPV) to injectable polio vaccine (IPV).
- UK introduced the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Assisted Dying Bill) allowing terminally ill adults in England/Wales with under six months to live to choose assisted death under safeguards requiring validation by two doctors, a psychiatrist, a senior lawyer and a social worker.
- Health Ministry released draft Guidelines for Withdrawal of Life Support in Terminally Ill Patients to operationalise the Supreme Courts 2018 and 2023 orders on right to die with dignity, setting up Primary and Secondary Medical Boards at hospital level to determine when further treatment may not benefit a terminally ill patient.
- SC in Common Cause vs Union of India (2018) recognised the right to die with dignity under Article 21 and laid down a framework for advance medical directives (living wills), simplified in a 2023 judgment; living wills require at least two surrogate decision-makers and must be signed before an executor, 2 witnesses, and attested before a notary/gazetted officer; hospitals must notify withdrawal decisions to the local judicial magistrate.
- Government Medical College Hospital in Keralas Kollam district became the first hospital in India to open a "Living Will Information Counter" to spread awareness.
- Health Ministry aims to integrate the Rare Donor Registry of India (RDRI, developed by ICMR-NIIH with 4,000+ screened donors covering 300+ rare blood markers like Bombay, P-Null, Rh-null) with e-Rakt Kosh for real-time access to rare blood groups nationwide, benefiting thalassemia and sickle cell disease patients.
- e-Rakt Kosh is an online blood bank management system under the National Health Mission providing data on blood availability, banks, and donor management across India; India-developed testing kits for Haemophilia A and Von Willebrand Disease (commercialised by Bhat Biotech as BioScan) are gaining global attention, benefiting over 1.4 lakh haemophilia patients.
- National Organ & Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) issued a 10-point advisory giving priority to women patients and relatives of deceased donors in organ allocation to correct gender imbalance (2013-23 data shows women were majority of donors but far fewer recipients); World Organ Donation Day is August 13; Indias organ donation rate is 0.8 per million population versus 45+ per million in Spain and the US.
- NOTTO, the apex body under the Ministry of Health overseeing the National Organ Transplant Programme, operates under the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act (THOTA), 1994 and maintains the central donor-recipient database.
- Ministry of Health amended the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues (Amendment) Rules, 2025 removing the mandatory requirement of clinical specular microscopy equipment in corneal transplantation centres, to boost cornea donation; corneal blindness is the second-leading cause of blindness in the over-50 age group in India with an estimated 1.2 million corneal blind persons (cataract being the leading cause).
- Under THOTA 1994, Brainstem Death (BSD) is a legal entity for deceased-donor organ removal; Registration of Birth and Death Act 1969 and the 1994 Act both use "permanent disappearance of all evidence of life" as the death criterion, making a BSD certificate under the 1994 Act sufficient to register death under the 1969 Act; India ranks 20th globally for living donors (10.8 per million) but 67th for deceased donors (0.8 per million), versus Spains 49.38 deceased donations per million.
- Health Ministry directed government departments to display oil, sugar and trans-fat content in popular Indian snacks (samosa, pakora, jalebi, vada pav etc.) and proposed "Sugar and Oil Boards" for schools/offices; CBSE directed schools to display daily sugar limits; NFHS data shows obesity rose from 15% to 24% in men and 12% to 23% in women (2005-06 to 2019-21); NCDs now cause 66% of deaths in India, especially after age 30.
- WHO dietary recommendations for adults: fat under 65g/day, added sugar under 25g/day, salt under 5g/day; FSSAI boards recommend 27-30g fat/day and sugar under 25g/day for adults (20g for children); The Lancets Global Burden of Disease study projects obese/overweight Indian adults rising from 18 crore (2021) to 44.9 crore by 2050, making India second-highest globally.
- National Health Accounts 2017-18 (NSS 75th Round) showed Out-of-Pocket Expenditure declining from 64% (2013-14) to 49% (2017-18) of total health spending, but the Consumer Expenditure Survey 2022-23 shows OOPE as a share of household consumption expenditure has actually risen; insurance penetration remains low at 15-18%; PM-JAY covers 500 million people with Rs 5 lakh per family for cashless advanced care.
- Cabinet approved Phase 3 of a Centrally Sponsored Scheme to add 5,000 PG and 5,023 UG medical seats by 2028-29, upgrading medical colleges/hospitals at an enhanced cost ceiling of Rs 1.5 crore per seat; government has approved 22 AIIMS under Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) to correct regional imbalances in tertiary healthcare and medical education.
- Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act (DMRA), 1954 prohibits advertisement of any drug for a list of 54 specified medical conditions (cancer, diabetes, heart disease, leprosy, obesity etc.), irrespective of proven efficacy, to address misleading drug advertisements.
- The 7th Poshan Pakhwada and the 'Let's Fix Our Food' consortium spotlighted adolescent obesity, with the SC directing government to finalise transparent food-labelling regulations amid 5-15% adolescent overweight prevalence in some States.
- UNICEF's 'Feeding Profit' report found one in five children/adolescents (5-19 years) living with overweight globally, driven by unhealthy food advertising and school food environments, with Indian childhood obesity up 244% in 30 years and a further 121% rise projected over the next three decades.
- India's Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (Health Ministry), the country's first large-scale nutrition survey, documents the triple burden of undernutrition, overweight and micronutrient deficiency alongside anaemia and NCD risk factors.
- Urban obesity prevalence (46.1% men, 43.1% women) exceeds rural areas (35.4%, 31.6%) per waist-to-hip ratio data; FSSAI's Eat Right India movement runs campaigns like 'Aaj Se Thoda Kam'.
- CBSE directed over 24,000 affiliated schools to set up 'sugar boards' (a concept from food influencer Revant Himatsingka) showing sugar content in aerated drinks/juices, recommended limits and health risks, supported by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, against WHO's cap of 5% of daily calories from sugar.
- FSSAI permits a 'low sugar' claim only at or below 5g per 100g and has convened panels to define High Fat, Salt, Sugar (HFSS) foods for school meals; India follows the WHO cut-off of 25g sugar/day (6 teaspoons) with no India-specific lower limit set despite genetic-vulnerability concerns.
- Indian adults consume 8-11 grams of salt daily, double the WHO-recommended 5-6 grams, contributing to hypertension affecting 28.1% of Indian adults.
- The India Hypertension Control Initiative (IHCI, started 2017, active in 25 districts across 5 states) aims to give 75 million people with hypertension/diabetes standard care by 2025, won a UN/WHO Award, and expanded to 140 districts by 2023 using WHO HEARTS/SHAKE-the-salt-habit strategies.
- Madras Diabetes Research Foundation, with Washington University School of Medicine, discovered a new subtype of Maturity-Onset Diabetes of the Young (MODY), a rare non-insulin-dependent inherited diabetes with 13 recognised subtypes confirmed via genetic testing.
- The ICMR-India Diabetes Survey found 11.4% of adults have diabetes and 15.3% are pre-diabetic, with over 100 million diabetics and 136 million pre-diabetics nationally, and about one in five pregnant women affected by early gestational diabetes.
- Per Global Burden of Disease data, diarrhoeal disease was India's leading cause of death in 1990 (ASMR 300.53/lakh) but by 2023 ischaemic heart disease topped the list (ASMR 127.82/lakh).
- WHO's NCD framework was extended by the 2019 World Health Assembly from the 2013-2020 Global Action Plan to 2030 with an Implementation Roadmap 2023-2030; SDG target 3.4 seeks a one-third reduction in premature NCD mortality by 2030.
- Measles, meningitis and yellow fever are re-emerging globally due to missed vaccinations from funding cuts, with the US reporting a 2024 measles outbreak despite elimination there in 2000; WHO/UNICEF/Gavi/Gates Foundation's 'Big Catch-Up' (2023) targets children missed during COVID-19.
- India's Mission Indradhanush (2014) and Intensified Mission Indradhanush (2017) targeted 90% immunisation coverage; India has been polio-free since 2011, eliminated maternal/neonatal tetanus in 2015, was declared Yaws-free in 2016, and ran a 2017-2019 Measles-Rubella campaign vaccinating 34.8 crore children.
- IMI 5.0 (2023) targeted under-five children nationwide and the Zero Measles-Rubella Elimination Campaign (2025) aims for 95% MR coverage; India tracks vaccines via U-WIN (built on CoWIN), eVIN, the National Cold Chain Management Information System, and the SAFE-VAC safety-reporting module.
- As per NFHS-5 (2019-21), India's full immunisation coverage stands at 76.1%; Gavi's pledging summit aims to raise $9 billion to protect 500 million children and save 8 million lives between 2026-2030.
- 2026 NFHS-6, released 29 May 2026 (conducted 2023-24 by the Health Ministry and IIPS Mumbai, covering ~6.79 lakh households across 715 districts), shows improvements over NFHS-5 (2019-21): institutional deliveries 88.6%→90.6%; ANC coverage 92.6%→95.9% (ANC in first trimester 70.0%→76.2%; 4+ ANC visits 58.5%→65.2%); skilled birth attendance 89.4%→91.3%; full child immunisation (12-23 months) 83.8%→87.1%, with rotavirus coverage more than doubling from 36.4% to 85.4% and measles 2nd dose rising from 58.6% to 71.8%.
- 2026 NFHS-6 findings on nutrition and financing: under-5 stunting fell from 35.5% to 29.3% (a 17% reduction) and severe wasting from 7.7% to 5.2% (a 32% reduction), while underweight was largely stable (32.1%→31.8%); household health insurance/financing coverage rose sharply from 41.0% to 60.2%, driven by Ayushman Bharat-PMJAY; Contraceptive Prevalence Rate rose from 66.7% to 69.1% while TFR held steady at 2.0; women's internet use rose from 33.3% to 64.3% and women with a bank account they themselves use rose from 78.6% to 89.0%.
- India's Universal Immunisation Programme (launched 1985) gives free vaccines against 12 diseases including diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio, measles, rubella, childhood TB, Hepatitis B, pneumococcal disease, rotavirus diarrhoea and Japanese Encephalitis (in endemic areas).
- WHO's Immunisation Agenda 2030 targets 90% vaccination coverage and halving children missing vaccines (from a 2019 baseline of 1.4 million zero-dose children in India) to save 50 million lives globally by 2030.
- CoWIN, built on five modules (orchestration, cold chain, citizen registration, vaccinator, certificate/adverse-event reporting), integrated eight vaccines including Covishield, Covaxin, Corbevax and Sputnik-V, and was offered by India as a digital public good globally in 2021.
- 2021 India crossed 1 billion (100 crore) COVID-19 vaccine doses administered on 21 October 2021 — PM Modi called it the "Vaccine Century" (#VaccineCentury), tracked via the CoWIN platform referenced above. Same-day COVID indicators: recovery rate 98.15% (highest since March 2020); active caseload 1,78,831 (0.52% of total cases, lowest since March 2020); daily new cases 18,454; weekly positivity rate 1.34% (below 3% for 118 consecutive days); cumulative tests conducted 59.57 crore.
- India's influenza surveillance focuses mainly on H1N1 (swine flu); winter 2024-25 saw a severe Influenza B outbreak followed by an H3N2 surge post-monsoon, with flu vaccines (not part of the UIP) offering only moderate, short-term protection due to frequent antigenic drift.
- Germany detected wild polio virus in a Hamburg sewage sample, Europe's first such detection since 2010, linked to the strain circulating in Afghanistan, where wild polio remains endemic along with Pakistan; India was declared polio-free in 2014 via the Pulse Polio campaign.
- India reports 57% of global leprosy cases (Mycobacterium leprae); NHRC recommended UIDAI promote iris scans for Aadhaar since leprosy-related nerve damage affects fingertips, and laws still discriminate against leprosy-affected persons in transport, public spaces, elections, employment and business.
- India declared leprosy eliminated as a public health problem (prevalence below 1/10,000) in 2005 but it remains endemic in pockets; the National Strategic Plan and Roadmap targets zero indigenous cases by 2027 (ahead of SDG 3.3's 2030 target), using the Nikusth 2.0 portal (2023) and Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP-SDR) now given to 92% of eligible contacts.
- Kerala has recorded 8 Nipah outbreaks in 8 years plus 4 spillovers (2019, 2021, two in 2024); outbreaks (human-to-human transmission, often ARDS) cause most deaths, while spillovers (single cases, no human transmission) typically show acute encephalitis syndrome.
- Nipah virus, a Henipavirus with 40-75% fatality and no approved treatment/vaccine, spreads from fruit bat (Pteropus) reservoirs via contaminated food, pigs or human contact; ICMR has invited Expressions of Interest for monoclonal antibodies as possible post-exposure prophylaxis for high-risk contacts.
- Nipah virus was first identified in the 1998 Malaysia outbreak (pig-to-human); Indian cases occurred in Kerala (2018, 2021, 2023) and West Bengal (2026), with an R0 of 0.3-0.4 and 4-14 day incubation.
- 2026 National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) clarified only two confirmed Nipah Virus Disease (NiVD) cases have been reported in West Bengal since December (previous year) till date, correcting speculative/incorrect higher figures that had circulated in media; 196 contacts linked to the cases were traced, found asymptomatic, and all tested negative.
- The DRC recorded its 16th Ebola outbreak; Ebola (first identified 1976 near the Ebola River, DRC) is fatal in up to 90% of cases and spreads from wild animals (fruit bats, porcupines, primates) and via contact with bodily fluids of infected persons.
- Andhra Pradesh recorded 9 deaths from Scrub Typhus, a bacterial zoonotic disease (Orientia tsutsugamushi) spread via infected chigger mite bites, endemic in Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Meghalaya, with no vaccine but effective doxycycline treatment if started early.
- India has the world's second-highest Sickle Cell Disease prevalence after Nigeria (MP > Chhattisgarh > Maharashtra among States, ahead of DRC); ICMR developed India's first stigma scale, the ICMR-SCD Stigma Scale for India (ISSSI), the fourth such scale globally, with separate patient (ISSSI-Pt) and caregiver (ISSSI-Cg) tools.
- Six SCD-endemic districts are Alluri Seetharama Raju (AP), Anuppur (MP), Chhotaudepur (Gujarat), Kandhamal (Odisha), Mysuru (Karnataka) and Udalguri (Assam), reflecting high prevalence among tribal populations.
- SCD, caused by inheriting two mutated beta-globin genes (chromosome 11), is an autosomal recessive Mendelian disorder; US FDA has approved two gene therapies (Lyfgenia and Casgevy) and SCD is among the 21 disabilities recognised under the RPwD Act 2016.
- The National Sickle Cell Anaemia Elimination Mission (launched 2023) aims to eliminate SCD by 2047 by screening 7 crore individuals aged 0-40 across 17 tribal-dominated states.
- India detected one NB.1.8.1 case (Tamil Nadu) and four LF.7 cases (Gujarat), both classified by WHO as Variants Under Monitoring rather than Variants of Concern/Interest, while JN.1 (53%) remains India's dominant circulating variant, followed by BA.2 (26%).
- Long COVID affects at least 10% of recovered patients (50-70% of hospitalised cases), with brain scans showing measurable cognitive decline including brain fog and memory issues.
- The first effective measles vaccine was developed by John Enders in 1963; WHO's Expanded/Essential Programme on Immunisation (from 1974) and Gavi (from 2000) scaled up access, with Africa and Southeast Asia benefiting most (2.9 crore and 2.0 crore lives saved respectively), and the measles vaccine alone accounting for 60% of lives saved by immunisation overall.
- 40% of India's population is affected by metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) versus 30% globally, with 53% of Indian MASLD cases undiagnosed due to minimal early symptoms; while 80-85% of cases stay static or reversible, 15% develop steatotic hepatitis within 7 years and 5% develop cirrhosis within 25 years.
- Jajpur, Odisha reported a cholera outbreak; cholera (Vibrio cholerae, spread via contaminated food/water) can be transmitted asymptomatically for 7-14 days through stool-contaminated water sources.
- About 10,000 rare diseases have been identified globally (nearly 80% genetic, mostly affecting children, with 30% of affected children not surviving past age five); of 300 million people worldwide with rare diseases, about 90 million live in India, with no national registry hindering policy and over 95% lacking affordable therapies, making premarital counselling important.
- World Patient Safety Day observed September 17, 2025 theme "Safe Care for Every Newborn and Every Child"; globally 1 in 10 hospitalized patients and 4 in 10 outpatients experience harm while receiving care.
- National Patient Safety Implementation Framework (2018-25) provides a roadmap for adverse-event reporting and integrating safety into clinical programmes; NABH sets hospital accreditation standards on infection control, patient rights and medication management; Society of Pharmacovigilance India monitors adverse drug reactions nationwide.
- WHO's Global antibiotic resistance surveillance report 2025 (GLASS) found AMR in India among the world's highest: in 2023 one in three bacterial infections in India were resistant to commonly used antibiotics vs one in six globally, with high resistance in E.coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus especially in ICUs.
- India's National Action Plan on AMR 2.0 (NAP-AMR 2.0, 2025-29) places intersectoral supervision under NITI Aayog and for the first time seeks meaningful private-sector participation, but States face no statutory requirement to notify/implement their AMR Action Plans or set up AMR Cells; the first NAP-AMR (2017) had placed AMR within a One Health framework.
- World AMR Awareness Week (18-24 November) theme: "Act Now: Protect Our Present, Secure Our Future"; a ban on colistin as an animal-husbandry growth promoter is considered a significant AMR intervention.
- India secured its best-ever SDG Index 2025 position but is off-track on most SDG 3 targets: MMR 93/lakh live births (target 70), under-five mortality 32/1,000 (target 25), life expectancy 70 years (target 73.63), out-of-pocket health expenditure 13% (target 7.83%), immunisation coverage 93.23% (target 100%).
- In the last 11 years India's medical colleges rose from 387 to 819, UG medical seats from 51,000 to 1,29,000, and PG medical seats from 31,000 to 78,000.
- WHO's 10th Global Tobacco Epidemic report 2025: India became the first country to apply tobacco control regulations to digital streaming content; "Raising taxes" is the least-adopted MPOWER measure even as tobacco kills over 7 million people annually worldwide.
- WHO's "3 by 35" Initiative seeks to raise prices of tobacco, alcohol and sugary drinks by at least 50% by 2035; the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (2003) has 180+ parties and India joined in 2005.
- India's tobacco-control legal framework: COTPA 2003 (bans smoking in public places and sale to minors), COTPA Packaging & Labelling Amendment Rules 2022 (mandatory pictorial health warnings), National Tobacco Control Programme, and Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes Act 2019.
- A 2024 study found microplastics (<5mm) in 89% of Indian blood samples; plastics contain endocrine-disrupting chemicals (BPA, BPS, phthalates like DEHP/DBP, PFAS) that mimic/block hormones, causing receptor interference, gene disruption, oxidative stress and inflammation.
- Microplastics are linked to a 30% decline in Indian sperm counts over 20 years, poor egg quality, PCOS, endometriosis and miscarriage, and are probable carcinogens for breast, prostate, uterine and testicular cancers; India generates 9.3 million tonnes of plastic waste annually, of which 3.5 million tonnes pollute the environment (5.8 million tonnes incinerated).
- A blast at Sigachi Industries' Microcrystalline Cellulose (MCC) plant in Hyderabad killed 36 people; MCC itself is chemically inert with no known skin reactivity and is widely used as a binding/texturising agent in pharma, food and cosmetics, but its manufacturing process is hazardous.
- A Bihar study found uranium-238 in breast milk of lactating mothers across six districts (0 to 5.25 microgram/L, highest in Katihar), linked to groundwater contamination; WHO's provisional drinking-water guideline for uranium is 30 microgram/L and there is no permissible limit set for breast milk; long-term infant exposure may affect kidney development, cognition and IQ.
- Debate over AYUSH practitioners using the title "doctor": National Commission for Indian System of Medicine Act, 2020 replaced the Indian Medicine Central Council Act, 1970; Supreme Court (1998) held Ayurvedic practitioners cannot prescribe modern medicine, though many states still permit it under Rule 2(ee) of Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945; government has allowed Ayurvedic postgraduates to perform 58 surgeries (gall bladder, appendix, benign tumours) and plans to bring AYUSH treatments under Ayushman Bharat.
- FSSAI, in consultation with the Ayush Ministry, released a list of "Ayurveda Aahara" food preparations under the Food Safety and Standards (Ayurveda Aahara) Regulations, 2022, drawing from authoritative Ayurvedic texts listed in Schedule A/B, with a defined FBO process to add new products.
- Under the Indian Medicine Central Council (PG Ayurveda Education) Amendment Regulations, 2020 and NCISM guidelines, trained Ayurvedic PG students can independently perform 39 Shalya Tantra (general surgery) and 19 Shalakya Tantra (ENT/eye/head/orodentistry) procedures.
- AMRIT (Affordable Medicines and Reliable Implants for Treatment) Pharmacy scheme completed 10 years, providing life-saving and essential medicines at discounts of 50-90%.
- National Convention on Health Rights, convened in Delhi between Human Rights Day (Dec 10) and Universal Health Coverage Day (Dec 12) by Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (civil society coalition from 20+ States), draws lessons from COVID-19 to strengthen right-to-health initiatives.
- Less than 1% of doctors had registered for the National Medical Register ID (NMR ID) eight months after launch despite protests over the process, even though registration is voluntary; NMR is a centralised database under Section 31 of the NMC Act 2019, maintained by the Ethics and Medical Registration Board, replacing the old Indian Medical Register with a "one nation, one registration" digital system.
- National Medical Commission (NMC), constituted under the NMC Act 2019 replacing the Medical Council of India, has 33 members: a chairperson, 10 ex-officio members (including presidents of the four Autonomous Boards, DGHS and DG-ICMR) and 22 part-time members with expertise in management, law and medical ethics.
- Kombucha, a fermented tea popular among health-conscious Indian consumers for gut/immunity claims, has limited human clinical evidence (mostly biochemical/animal studies); BMI classifies <18.5 underweight, 18.5-24.9 normal, 25-29.9 overweight and >30 obese.
- A study on Indian gut microbiota found Akkermansiaceae and Prevotellaceae increased in obese participants (linked to insulin sensitivity/glucose metabolism) while harmful Ruminococcus gnavus and Dorea declined; gut diversity is higher among rural women in high-altitude regions and tribes like those in Ladakh, Jaisalmer and Khargone; Indian gut microbiota differs significantly from Western populations.
- Government plans to establish Day Care Cancer Centres in all district hospitals over three years, with 200 centres planned for 2025-26.
- Cashless Treatment of Road Accident Victims Scheme, 2025 (Gazette notification by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways) entitles road accident victims to cashless treatment up to Rs 1.5 lakh for the first seven days at designated hospitals, implemented by the National Health Authority to protect the critical "golden hour".
- Supreme Court held that Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) insurance benefits (personal accident cover of Rs 50 lakh for 90 days for around 22.12 lakh public healthcare providers) apply to both public and private medical professionals drafted into COVID-19 duty who lost their lives in service.
- Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid first developed in the 1960s for pain management, is about 50 times more potent than heroin, with just 2 mg potentially fatal; it suppresses brainstem functions controlling breathing, causing hypoventilation, respiratory depression and death within minutes.
- Naloxone, a mu-opioid receptor antagonist, can reverse a fentanyl overdose if administered quickly; unlike plant-derived heroin or cocaine, fentanyl is synthesised in labs from precursor chemicals such as NPP and 4-ANPP, which also have legitimate industrial/pharmaceutical uses, making regulation difficult.
- World Toilet Summit 2025, organised by the World Toilet Organization and hosted in New Delhi by Sulabh International and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to coincide with UN World Toilet Day (19 November), was themed Sanitation: Collective Responsibility for Dignity and Planet, focusing on circular-economy practices and the shift from ODF to ODF++ status, with campaigns Toilet Paas Hai and Main Saaf Hi Achha Hoon.
- SC's suo motu order on rising stray dog attacks in Delhi (including on children) was modified from permanent confinement to a sterilise-deworm-immunise-release approach per Rule 11(19) of the Animal Birth Control Rules 2023, which forbids permanent relocation except for rabid, incurably ill or aggressive dogs.
- National Action Plan for Dog-Mediated Rabies Elimination (NAPRE) 2030, a joint Health Ministry and Fisheries/Animal Husbandry Ministry initiative, targets vaccinating 70%+ of dogs, cutting rabies deaths by 75% and dog bites by 50% by 2030.
- Government data (Feb 2025) showed 54 rabies deaths in 2024 (up from 50 in 2023 and 21 in 2022) and over 37 lakh dog bite cases in 2024 (up from 30.5 lakh in 2023); WHO estimates India accounts for 36% of global rabies deaths, with dog bites causing about 96% of India's rabies mortality/morbidity and 30-60% of cases occurring in children under 15.
- 2026 National Dental Commission (NDC) constituted, effective 19 Mar 2026, replacing the Dental Council of India (DCI) — the Dentists Act 1948 was repealed and the DCI dissolved the same date (mirroring the earlier NMC-replaced-MCI reform model). Three autonomous boards were constituted under the NDC: the Undergraduate and Postgraduate Dental Education Board, the Dental Assessment and Rating Board, and the Ethics and Dental Registration Board. NDC functions: framing regulations, rating/assessing dental institutions, evaluating human resources, regulating private dental college fees, and setting standards for dental care/research/ethics.
- 2026 PM Narendra Modi launched a nationwide HPV (Human Papillomavirus) Vaccination Campaign for 14-year-old girls on 28 Feb 2026, from Ajmer, Rajasthan, using Gardasil-4 (quadrivalent, HPV types 6, 11, 16, 18), single dose, free of cost, voluntary with parental/guardian consent recorded via the U-WIN digital platform. Cervical cancer is the 2nd most common cancer among Indian women (~1.2 lakh new cases, ~80,000 deaths annually, WHO GLOBOCAN 2022); the campaign targets ~1.2 crore girls per year (per Registrar General of India 2021 data), runs in campaign-mode for 3 months before folding into routine immunization; globally 160 of 194 countries have introduced HPV vaccine nationally, with 90 using a single-dose schedule.
Economic Survey 2020-21 — Public Health Spending Recommendation (Pandemic-Year Survey)
2021- Strongly recommended increasing public healthcare spending from 1% to 2.5-3% of GDP — projected this could reduce out-of-pocket health expenditure from 65% to 35% of overall healthcare spending.
- Found the National Health Mission (NHM) had significantly improved poorest citizens' access to pre-natal/post-natal care and institutional deliveries.
- Called for a dedicated healthcare-sector regulator to address market failures from information asymmetry — aimed at lowering insurance premiums and boosting insurance penetration.
Economic Survey 2024-25 — Health Expenditure & Ayushman Bharat Snapshot
2025- Government health expenditure's share of total health spending rose from 29.0% to 48.0%; out-of-pocket health expenditure share declined from 62.6% to 39.4%.
- Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY has recorded over ₹1.25 lakh crore in savings for beneficiaries.
Union Budget 2026-27 — Biopharma SHAKTI & Health Infrastructure Push
2026| Cue Words | Notes |
|---|---|
| Biopharma SHAKTI — Domestic Biologics Manufacturing Hub |
|
| Regional Medical Hubs, AYUSH and Mental Health Institutions |
|