Economic Survey 2018: Child and maternal malnutrition biggest health challenges

(Representative Image)

Child and maternal malnutrition continue to be the most challenging risk factors for health loss in India in 2016, followed by air pollution, dietary risks, high blood pressure, and diabetes, said the Economic Survey 2017-18 tabled in the Parliament by the Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Arun Jaitley.

“The Survey notes that there has been significant improvement in the health status of individuals in India as life expectancy at birth has increased by 10 years during the period 1990 to 2015. The survey, however, notes with concern that there are wide differences in the average prices of diagnostic tests across cities which need to be addressed by standardising rates to reduce Out of Pocket Expenses (OPE) on health services,” the Ministry said in a statement on Monday.

Economic Survey 2018: Catch all the updates live on Moneycontrol blog here.

The government gave “utmost priority” to social infrastructure like education, health, and social protection to plan India’s inclusive and sustainable growth, the Survey added.

The Swachh Bharat initiative also contributed to improved health in the rural sector.

“The Economic Survey 2017-18 takes note of the basic fact that quality of hygiene and sanitation has a significant impact on improving the health outcomes. With the launch of Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) on 2nd October, 2014, the sanitation coverage in rural India has increased substantially from 39 percent in 2014 to 76 percent in January, 2018,” said the Ministry in a statement.

Here is the Full Text of Economic Survey 2017-2018