Speaker: Monica Das Gupta, demographer, Research Professor, University of Maryland, USA. She has worked in the World Bank’s Development Research Group, Washington DC; Harvard University’s Center for Population & Development Studies, Cambridge MA; and at the National Council of Applied Economic Research, New Delhi
Chair: T.V. Somanathan, Finance Secretary, Govt. of India
A key plank of development infrastructure is eliminating communicable diseases, which impose heavy costs on people and hampers the nation’s prospects for economic growth. This is a pure public good needed for a healthy population and labour forces, and no country has become developed without investing in strong public health systems. This talk outlines the institutional requirements for effective public health services, and the key gaps in India’s current public health system. It highlights how India’s public health services can be greatly strengthened within the existing government budgets for health. Simply deploying existing resources more effectively, and improving their management, can vastly improve India’s ability to eliminate routine communicable diseases, and better manage future pandemics such as COVID
