India's new health push needs deeper inclusion
In a country where nearly every rural household can access basic health infrastructure, one might assume the battle for public health equity is won. Yet, the numbers sober the story by a few notches: Only 65% of households consistently use improved health facilities, with even lower uptake among Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and other marginalised groups.
The paradox is clear. Bricks and mortar are in place, but trust, awareness, and access remain fragile.
A 2024 scientific study based o n NFHS-5 data underscores this inequality. It found that wealthier households were dramatically more likely — up to 47 times in some cases — to access improved healthcare, even after adjusting for location and education. India's central and eastern regions continue to exhibit the starkest disparities, despite marginal improvement over past survey cycles.
The socioeconomic gradient in healthcare access, in short, persists with quiet but deep severity.
This divide is more than statistical. Research from urban slums in Kolkata and Bengaluru has shown that generations of deprivation can normalise poor health outcomes and reduce healthcare-seeking behaviour. As a result, even when clinics are built and services are free, utilisation lags unless interventions are grounded in community engagement and led by locally trusted actors.
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by Taboola
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Here, international benchmarks offer both warning and inspiration. UN Sustainable Development Goal 3 calls for universal, equitable health access by 2030, yet UNICEF-WHO data reveals that only 52% of people globally have access to essential health services — and a staggering 70% still lack basic hygiene facilities at home. India mirrors this imbalance: patchy uptake, despite broader infrastructure.
In this context, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) emerges not as a stopgap, but as a potential catalyst for lasting change.
When rooted in community participation, equity, and sustainability, CSR-led health interventions can extend the state's reach and build social trust.
Consider Vedanta's SEHAT initiative, which supports primary health centres (PHCs), conducts menstrual health and addiction awareness camps, and has reached over 11,000 rural patients in Punjab.
Household healthcare spending in these areas has dropped by nearly 70%, according to internal assessments.
Vedanta's Nand Ghar project, in partnership with the ICDS, leverages telemedicine and mobile health vans to provide maternal and child healthcare in over 6,300 anganwadi centres. The addition of solar-powered borewells and purifiers under Project Nirmal brings a layer of climate resilience.
Similarly, Hyundai Motor India Foundation's Sparsh Sanjeevani network of 35 mobile and telemedicine units has served over 1.5 million people across seven states, including in high-altitude areas of Ladakh and Jammu & Kashmir.
The NTPC Foundation invested Rs 254 crore in FY 2023–24 on health and water projects, impacting 1.6 million people across 581 villages.
Other examples stand out for their focus on stigmabusting. Aditya Birla Education Trust's Ujaas initiative runs a mobile van that promotes menstrual hygiene awareness and distributes sanitary pads in collaboration with women-led selfhelp groups. Tata's Aarogyatara programme has enabled 65,000 cataract surgeries and distributed over 37,000 spectacles, targeting preventable blindness.
On the prevention and education front, Wipro has strengthened hygiene education in schools, and Olympus Medical Systems India has supported ENT screenings and installed sanitation facilities in schools for over 2,700 children.
What these initiatives share is not just funding, but a design philosophy: preventive orientation, vulnerable population targeting, system alignment, and sustainability. These are in line with WHO-UNICEF's 2025 guidelines, which stress rightsbased, locally embedded health delivery.
The Times of India CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance)/Social Impact Summit 2025 is expected to provide a platform for further dialogue on gender inclusion.
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