Comprehensive national health system needed, report says
Quick action must be taken to better the health of India’s booming population, or else the country’s economic growth will be threatened, according to a new report in British medical journal The Lancet. India is in the early stages of a chronic disease epidemic, according to the report and noted by the BBC, which affects rich and poor people alike. Although Indians are getting richer, they’re exercising less and eating fatty foods, upping the rates of obesity and diabetes. The report, which consists of a series of studies, calls for a comprehensive national health system by 2020. They recommend funding health-improving measures by gradually boosting public expenditure and implementing new taxes on tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy foods.