Healthy, Equality, Fraternity

Context: On World Health Day (April 7), it must be recognised that Covid-19 is just the latest disease to expose, exploit and exacerbate inequalities that impact Health and socioeconomic outcomes.

Co-relation between Health and socioeconomic conditions: The lower the socioeconomic position, the worse the Health and the poorer the access to health services of adequate quality.

• This is why the burden of communicable diseases in South and Southeast Asia, such as tuberculosis (TB), hepatitis and HIV (human immunodeficiency virus), is most acute among the poor population.
• It is why non-communicable diseases such as heart disease can be more found among populations exposed to socially-determined risk factors such as unplanned urbanisation and inadequate housing.

Way forward:

• Ensure living and working conditions conducive for all: Clean water and air, income and social protection, and food security, among others, are vital to achieving the goal.
• ‘Health-in-all policies’ approach: Which is gender-responsive and human rights-focused, and which advances the core principle of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda (SDA): leave no one behind.
  • Adopting Universal health coverage (UHC): Since 2014, the South and Southeast Asia region has pursued UHC as a flagship priority. Some positive outcomes are:
    • Rise in health service coverage, now above 63%, as compared with 49% a decade ago.
    • The density of health workers — around 70% of whom are women — continues to increase.
  • Along with the Whole-of-government and whole-of-society approaches, this approach will help to realise the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3.
• New sources of revenue should be explored: For e.g., increases in taxation on unhealthy products such as tobacco, alcohol and sugar-sweetened beverages. 
• Community outreach and empowerment: Including women-led organisations can help identify the root causes of inequities and find localised solutions, and also enhance coordination between Health and social services and target communities.
• Ensure reliable health data: Countries must continue to prioritise the collection of high-quality, timely and reliable health data.
  • Data should be collected on a disaggregated basis and analysed by key parameters for inequities such as sex, geography, income, education, etc.
  • Leverage WHO-supported Health Information Platform (HIP), which provides an integrated database of country progress across a range of indicators.

Conclusion: A fairer and healthier region and the world is possible if we dare to be bold and achieve our vision.