On 25th July 2024, Apurva Chandra, Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), launched the summary report on “The Economic Case for Investment in the Well-being of Adolescents in India” in New Delhi, Delhi.
- The report highlights major improvements in adolescent well-being in India over recent decades, demonstrating the extensive policies and programmes of Government of India (GoI), which aimed at promoting the health and well-being of adolescents.
Note:
The report is based on the global findings presented in “Adolescents in a Changing World- The Case for Urgent Investment”, commissioned by the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH), released at the 77th World Health Assembly (WHA) held in Geneva, Switzerland from 27th May to 1st June 2024.
Key Points:
i.The report, developed by PMNCH, highlights the substantial economic benefits of investing in adolescent well-being.
ii.The report outlines 7 key programmes in areas such as: adolescent health, education, child marriage prevention, and road safety, among others.
- It mentioned that for every dollar invested in these areas, returns are estimated to range from USD 4.6 to USD 71.4.
iii.The report further shows that some of the future investments are in alignment with existing national programmes which will help to boost the Indian economy.
iv.The report estimated that if government, private sector, civil society, communities and families makes an investment of USD 33 billion per year across different sectors, will generate returns of USD 476 billion per year.
- This will further help to enhance the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by an average of 10.1%.
v.The findings of the report is in alignment with the newly released Union Budget for 2024-25 includes a comprehensive Rs 2 lakh crore (nearly USD 26.67 billion), aimed at education, job creation, skill development, and employment-linked incentives which is estimated to benefit 4.1 crore youth across the nation.
vi.As the report presents empirical data to estimate the benefit –cost ratio (BCR) for 7 major programmes, but still, emphasis on the need for additional programmes to further enhance adolescent well-being.
Key Highlights:
i.While addressing the event, Apurva Chandra highlighted that India is the 1st country to launch the Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK) which is dedicated program to reach 253 million adolescents in India including, male and female, rural and urban, married and unmarried, in and out-of-school adolescents focuses mainly on marginalized and under-served groups.
- He also announced the upcoming launch of U-WIN platform, which is modeled after the Co-WIN platform.
- Aim: To digitize and monitor the health records of children which will help to address the emerging challenges in adolescent health.
ii.Apurva Chandra also outlined various initiatives of GoI which help in advancing the well-being of adolescents in the country such as:
- The School Health and Wellness Programme: It was launched under Ayushman Bharat, aims to bolster health promotion and disease prevention interventions for school children using trained teachers.
- The Scheme for Promotion of Menstrual Hygiene: This scheme mainly focuses on adolescent girls to increase awareness and promote menstrual hygiene practices.
iii.Rajat Khosla, Executive Director, PMNCH underscored that adolescents comprise 1.5 billion people in the world and 20% of them resides in India.
- He highlighted that GoI has allocated Rs 2 lakh crore in the Union Budget (2024-25) for the well-being of adolescents in India.
iv.The key findings of the report was presented by Prof. Bruce Rasmussen, Director, Victoria Institute of Strategic Economic Studies, Victoria University.
- He outlined that India made progress in 5 domains of adolescent well-being such as: agency and resilience; safety and supportive environment; good health and optimum nutrition; learning, competence, education, skills and employability; and connectedness, positive values and contribution to society.
About Ministry of Health and Family Welfare(MoHFW):
Union Minister– Jagat Prakash Nadda (Rajya Sabha – Gujarat)
Union Minister of State (MoS)- Anupriya Patel(Constituency- Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh); Jadhav Prataprao Ganpatrao (Constituency- Buldhana, Maharashtra)
