The Constitution of India makes every State responsible for “raising the level of nutrition and the standard of living of its people and the improvement of public health as among its primary duties”. But the healthcare system in India exhibits numerous challenges in its access, affordability, quality and coverage in urban and rural areas. To tackle the challenges of the healthcare system, the government of India has introduced numerous schemes and brought about changes in its existing policies. One of these changes was the introduction of National Health Policy (NHP) in 2017. Fourteen years after the NHP of 2002, the new health policy was introduced in the context of rise in non-communicable diseases, enhanced fiscal capacity, emergence of a robust health care industry and increasing healthcare expenditure by people. Through the National Health Policy of 2017, the perspective of health has changed from cure to prevention to lay the foundations of a proactive approach in the health sector.
This Policy Brief explains and analyses NHP, 2017, and provides recommendations to improve the impact and effectiveness of India’s healthcare policies.