Increased outlays to tackle the resurgence of polio and the challenges posed by HIV/AIDS are pluses in India's Budget 2007-08 that has otherwise earned criticism for not making enough funds available for public health

A hike in funds for the National Rural Health Mission and increased financial outlays to tackle the public health challenges posed by HIV/AIDS and polio are key aspects of health spending in India's Budget 2007-08.

Presented to Parliament by India's Finance Minister P Chidambaram, on February 28, the budget hikes financial allocations for public health for the year 2007-2008 by almost 22% over the previous year.

Chidambaram has proposed increasing allocations for the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) to Rs 9,947 crore from Rs 8,207 crore in the current fiscal.

There will be a major emphasis on mother and child care, and on the prevention and treatment of communicable diseases like tuberculosis and malaria. Convergence is sought to be achieved among various immunisation, antenatal care, nutrition and sanitation programmes through Monthly Health Days (MHD) organised at anganwadi centres.

The polio eradication programme, Chidambaram said, has been integrated with the NRHM; Rs 1,290 crore has been set aside for eradicating the virus from the country.

India's polio eradication strategy will be revised in light of an outbreak of polio in Uttar Pradesh. The number of polio rounds will be increased and the monovalent vaccine introduced with intensive coverage in 20 high-risk districts in Uttar Pradesh and 10 districts in Bihar. Associated Social Health Activists (ASHAs) and anganwadi workers will visit every household and track every child for the immunisation programme.

The government has also proposed increasing provisions for India's AIDS control programme to Rs 969 crore in 2007-08.

Chidambaram said the government had brought HIV/AIDS "out of the closet" and promised bold and determined efforts to achieve zero-level growth of the virus.

The National AIDS Control Programme-III, starting in 2007-08, will target high-risk groups in every state. "More hospitals will provide treatment to prevent transmission of HIV/AIDS from mother to child. The epidemic will be deemed stabilised if the prevalence rate is less than 1% of the population," Chidambaram said. Access to condoms will also be expanded, and universal access to blood screening and safe blood ensured.

Ayurveda, yoga and naturopathy, unani, siddha and homeopathy (AYUSH) systems will be mainstreamed into the health delivery systems at all levels.

Budgetary allocation for the Rajiv Gandhi Drinking Water and Sanitation Mission has been increased from Rs 4,680 crore in 2006-07 to Rs 5,850 crore in 2007-08. For the Total Sanitation Campaign, the allocation has gone up from Rs 720 crore to Rs 954 crore.

The finance minister has allotted an additional Rs 700 crore for anganwadis, under the Integrated Child Development Services scheme, and stated that the whole country would be covered by the scheme in the course of the Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2007-2012). However, the principal adviser to the Supreme Court-appointed commissioners on the right to food, Biraj Patnaik, says this is not in keeping with the requirements mandated under the Supreme Court order of December 13, 2006.

The court had ordered that anganwadis be universalised by December 2008. This involves creating 140,000 new anganwadis.

The budget has been criticised by the UN Millennium Campaign for not committing more funds to the health sector. Despite the increased outlay, the health sector is still way short of the government's own Common Minimum Programme promise to commit 3% of GDP to public health spending. This year's budgetary allocation for health adds up to just 0.2% of India's GDP, says Milind Pimple, deputy director (Asia) of the Millennium Campaign.

India's public health spending is among the lowest in the world, and its maternal and infant mortality figures among the worst. According to the recently released third National Family Health Survey (NFHS), child malnutrition remains a major problem nationwide with around 45.9% of children under three years of age underweight, 38.4% stunted, and 19.1% wasted.

Source: www.empowerpoor.org, March 2, 2007
The Hindu, March 1, 2007
PTI, February 28, 2007