Q.What are the main characteristics of health of the people of our country?

India's health picture is one of real progress alongside persistent, deep inequalities. …

The main characteristics of the health of the people of India are:

1. Significant expansion since independence. Health infrastructure and manpower have grown greatly (hospitals, beds, nurses and doctors have multiplied), and this helped eradicate smallpox and guinea worms and bring polio and leprosy close to eradication; life expectancy has risen and infant mortality has fallen.
2. Still-low indicators. Compared with other countries, India's infant and maternal mortality rates are high, immunisation and skilled-birth coverage are lower, and government health spending is abysmally low — about 8.2 per cent of total government spending and only 3.9 per cent of GDP.
3. A heavy disease burden. With about 17 per cent of the world's population, India bears about 20 per cent of the global burden of disease, more than half of it from communicable diseases such as diarrhoea, malaria and tuberculosis; malnutrition and poor vaccine supply cause many child deaths. …