In order to enhance the prospects of social development, sound and adequate health care policies are…

Question

In order to enhance the prospects of social development, sound and adequate health care policies are needed particularly in the fields of geriatric and maternal health care. Discuss.

Ghissu Editorial · Accepted Answer

Sound maternal and geriatric health policies drive social development by protecting both ends of the life cycle, from the next generation's learning to dignified, solvent old age. Institutional births reached 89% under NFHS-5, yet LASI found about three in four elderly living with chronic disease.

**Introduction**

Social development rests on the life course, and its most fragile ends are mothers and the elderly. MMR fell from 130 (2014-16) to 97 (SRS 2018-20), yet the UNFPA India Ageing Report 2023 projects one in five Indians over 60 by 2050. Articles 41, 42 and 47 make both a State duty.

**Maternal Health Care as a Driver of Social Development**

SKETCH: flow-cycle | Life-Course Health Link
- Healthy mother
- Healthy newborn
- Learning child
- Productive adult
- Healthy ageing

1. **Intergenerational Returns**: Healthy pregnancies prevent low birth weight and stunting, protecting the next generation's learning and earnings.
2. **Access Without Quality**: Institutional births rose from 79% to 89% (NFHS-4 to NFHS-5), but 52% of pregnant women remain anaemic (NFHS-5).
3. **Sound Policy Design**: LaQshya (2017), SUMAN (2019) and PMMVY's wage-loss cash move policy from counting deliveries to assuring quality.

**Geriatric Health Care for an Ageing Society**

1. **Disease and Poverty Burden**: LASI Wave 1 (2017-18) found about three in four elderly with a chronic disease, a major source of out-of-pocket impoverishment.
2. **Gendered Care Burden**: Elder care falls on women as unpaid carers, depressing female workforce participation.
3. **Policy Response and Gaps**: NPHCE (2010), the Senior Citizens Act, 2007 and PM-JAY's 2024 extension to all aged 70 and above help, but geriatric wards and palliative care remain scarce outside cities.

**Conclusion**

Sound maternal and geriatric policies convert health spending into social development by protecting both ends of the life cycle. Quality primary care and dignified ageing advance SDG 3 and a Viksit Bharat 2047 that leaves no generation behind.

In order to enhance the prospects of social development, sound and adequate health care policies are needed particularly in the fields of geriatric and maternal health care. Discuss.

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