A healthy and sustainable future

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As India marches forward, it faces new challenges in health and sustainable living, even as it has achieved key health targets such as polio eradication. Cities grappling with alarming rates of congestion and pollution, together with an unhealthy population, could significantly dampen the benefits of India’s demographic dividend and urban growth, and lead to a fast deterioration in the quality of life of its citizens.

Two key challenges must be solved to improve the quality of health and urban liveability for India’s citizens at the macro level. First, while improving overall access to and affordability of healthcare services, it will be crucial to address the advent of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), which currently account for 63% of all deaths in India. NCDs are on the rise, owing to unhealthy food and lifestyle choices, across both urban and rural areas, and across income segments.

Second, the impending crises in air and water pollution, waste management and urban congestion must be urgently solved. As an illustration of the magnitude of just one dimension of the air-water-waste-congestion challenge, nine of the world's 10 most air-polluted cities are in India, including its capital New Delhi.

As the country enters a new era of envisioned growth, now is the time for all Indians to come together as one and address the most pressing societal challenges facing the country today: skilling and job creation, the socioeconomic inclusion of rural India, and the building of a healthy and sustainable future for every citizen. Collaborative efforts, especially public-private partnerships to address these challenges, can unlock the full potential of a young, progressive and dynamic nation, and establish India as a model for the world’s fast-growing consumer markets.

 

Source : https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/01/India-biggest-future-three-challenges-consumption/

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