Foundations · Pillar 2 of 8
Health
Whether Indians live long, healthy lives in body and mind, with prevention placed ahead of treatment and care that does not push families into financial hardship.
What is the Health pillar?
Health is the second of eight pillars in the 47 BH framework for a developed Bharat by 2047, and one of the three pillars in the Foundations layer, which covers the preconditions that make people and the state capable. It asks whether Indians live long, healthy lives in body and mind, with prevention placed ahead of treatment and care that does not push families into financial hardship. It has four sub-pillars: prevention and public health; access and affordability; mental health; and healthy ageing.
How Health connects to the 47 BH vision
Health is one of three Foundations pillars that underpin the whole vision. People can only work hard, build wealth and do their duty to others if they live long, healthy lives in body and mind.
A developed Bharat that is richer in per capita income and, more importantly, in character: where people work hard and build wealth, yet live by Karma, accountable for every action, and by Dharma, doing their duty towards their family, friends, society and all life on this earth.
The 47 BH vision for 2047
The four sub-pillars of Health
Each sub-pillar is a part of Health that 47 BH examines in its conversations and explainers, through the two lenses described below.
- 2.1
Prevention and public health
Sanitation, clean drinking water, child nutrition, vaccination, and the prevention of lifestyle diseases such as diabetes and heart disease.
Much illness is kinder and cheaper to prevent than to treat. 47 BH looks at the basics of clean water, sanitation, nutrition and vaccination, and at the rise of lifestyle diseases.
- 2.2
Access and affordability
The availability of primary care and hospitals, and how much families pay out of their own pockets for treatment.
47 BH looks at whether people can reach a doctor or a hospital when they need one, and whether paying for treatment pushes families into debt or hardship.
- 2.3
Mental health
Awareness of mental health, access to care, and freedom from stigma.
47 BH treats mental health as part of health: whether people understand it, whether care is available, and whether they can seek it without shame.
- 2.4
Healthy ageing
Health, mobility and dignity in later years as India's population grows older.
As India's population grows older, 47 BH looks at whether people can stay healthy, mobile and independent, with dignity, in their later years.
Two lenses on Health
Two lenses apply to every sub-pillar in the 47 BH framework, so that rural India is present throughout and India learns from the world without copying it.
City and village
Health is examined for both urban and rural Bharat: whether a family in a village can reach a primary health centre and a hospital as readily as a family in a city, and whether clean water and sanitation reach every home.
Learn, avoid, protect
- Learn
- What can India learn from countries that provide good primary care to everyone at modest cost?
- Avoid
- Which mistakes should it avoid, such as health systems where treatment is excellent but so expensive that illness ruins families?
- Protect
- What of its own should it protect, such as traditions of diet, movement and family care that help people stay well?
Where Health meets other pillars
Elder health sits under Health. Elder care, the care and respect older people receive within families, sits under the Family and Society pillar. Each topic has one home in the framework.
Questions about the Health pillar
What is the Health pillar of 47 BH?
Health is the second of eight pillars in the 47 BH framework for a developed Bharat by 2047. It asks whether Indians live long, healthy lives in body and mind, with prevention ahead of treatment and care that does not push families into financial hardship.
What are the four sub-pillars of Health?
Prevention and public health; access and affordability; mental health; and healthy ageing.
Why does 47 BH put prevention ahead of treatment?
Because clean water, sanitation, nutrition, vaccination and healthy lifestyles spare people illness and spare families the cost of treatment.
Does the Health pillar include mental health?
Yes. Mental health is one of its four sub-pillars, covering awareness, access to care and freedom from stigma.