THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
The Kerala government’s widely acclaimed ‘Aardram Mission’ to ensure timely, quality and affordable healthcare to its citizens, and the need to ramp up its dynamics in the backdrop of the challenges triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, will be a riveting issue for discussion at an upcoming international webinar series on UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Kerala has notched formidable achievements in the quality-of-life indicators with its human development index positioned at 0.84, infant mortality rate at 7/1000 live births, and life expectancy of 75.2 against the national average of 68.8. However, the state is also grappling with higher morbidity due to demographic transition and non-communicable diseases, a problem that may have been accentuated by the raging pandemic.
“Aadram Mission has brought a paradigm shift in patient care across the state by ensuring the peoples involvement. Still, there is an urgent need to evaluate the functioning of this people-friendly initiative that was launched in 2017 to provide preventive, promotive, curative, rehabilitative and palliative services,” said state Health and Social Justice Minister K K Shailaja.
It is also imperative to iron out any chinks in this ambitious health initiative by taking stock of the lessons and experiences of global governments while tackling the COVID-19 crisis.
“The pandemic is a significant reminder that we need to invest in public health, ramp up health system’s capacities to detect a disease early and respond rapidly to emerging infections and rely on evidence base for policymaking. It is time we paid heed to these lessons and strengthened our health systems as epidemics and pandemics of this nature will continue to challenge public health well into the future,” she stressed.
The issue would be discussed in great details at the webinar, titled ‘Kerala Health: Making the SDG a Reality’, being organised by the state’s Department of Health and Family Welfare across five days this month and early March.
The objectives of Aardram Mission are in tune with the SDG 3 that seeks “to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.” It is one of the 17 SDGs charted out by the UN General Assembly in 2015 that are set to be achieved by 2030.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will inaugurate the webinar whose five sessions are to be held on February 17, 18, 24, 25 and March 5, each session dealing with a specific health issue that is particularly relevant for Kerala.
Dr Rajan Khobragade, Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare & AYUSH, Govt. of Kerala, said Aardram Mission has given a substantial impetus to the state government’s efforts to strengthen its primary healthcare programme that seeks to ensure universal and equitable access to healthcare to all citizens.
“Through a multi-pronged approach, it has played a pivotal role in democratization of public health systems. It seeks to balance conventional priorities such as maternal and child health with upcoming challenges focusing on non-communicable diseases. It grows towards the idea of a resilient and responsive system that ensures quality universal healthcare and catalyses the quest towards the SDGs,” he added.
The conversion of Primary Health Centers (PHCs) into Family Health Centres (FHCs) is one of the major components of Aardram Mission. Kerala was also the first state to pioneer the concept of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in 2012 through a pilot project in collaboration with WHO to strengthen the primary health care services and to address the most important cause of morbidity and mortality in the state.
The actionable proposals from the webinar will provide crucial inputs for the health sector in the state’s 14th Five Year Plan (2022-27). It will also facilitate cross-learning and devise future strategies on transforming primary healthcare, maternal and child health, and non-communicable & communicable diseases.
