Real measure of country’s progress is embedded in health and well-being of its women

Has India’s efforts towards fostering a higher standard of healthcare for women started to yield results? The answer to that question is a definitive ‘yes’. Can we do better? That’s a definitive ‘yes’ too. It is significant to note that women’s health is central to the social and economic progress of the country and in that sense, it is more than just a health issue. If we place women’s health in the centre of our developmental agenda, it has the power to unleash unprecedented economic potential.

Improving outcomes for women requires moving beyond policies to ensuring effective implementation and measurable health impact. That’s the path that we have to create moving forward. India’s maternal mortality ratio (MMR), for example, has dropped noticeably in the last 20 years, in a clear reflection of the impact that government schemes have had especially in rural areas. The road ahead is long and winding but we should crate the requisite tools to manoeuvre it.

India has created the policy scaffolding around women’s healthcare but now it needs to lay the framework for some effective monitoring. We need trained frontline workers in larger numbers and a system of governance that is data-driven. If we manage to embrace these reforms successfully over the next decade, we can go beyond measures that are merely symbolic in nature.

Diabetes, hypertension, reproductive health issues, breast cancer and cervical cancer often go undetected among women due to lack of screening. These are areas where early detection can significantly reduce disease burden. It has to be noted that in many parts of India women hardly get screened for such parameters. It’s a tragedy that can be averted easily through better awareness campaigns.

As we all know, women in many households have to do multiple (professional/domestic) roles often without support and as a result depression and anxiety develop and go unnoticed due to lack of awareness in the family. Issues such as post-partum depression are treated too casually in our society. Many such mental agonies fly below the radar. We need to address these issues upfront and ensure that women are in a better place mentally. Our women need greater support from their families and people have to see the load they carry both professionally and personally. If we treat our women better, our entire society will benefit and the country itself will prosper sociologically and economically.

An iron will is required to ensure equitable delivery of healthcare and for that we need better implementation fidelity. We have to take a good look at our monitoring architecture. Are we using our data meaningfully for course correction? The next decade (2026-35) should focus on defining accountability in this regard. The question to ask is whether our monitoring systems are tracking outcomes. We may have data on the number of beneficiaries enrolled and funds released but do we track anaemia reduction or postpartum quality? Measuring the health impact is significantly more important than just collecting data without an end goal in mind. The data must translate into actionable policy decisions and better clinical outcomes.

One issue is that our data ecosystem is fragmented as there’s limited interoperability between our health portals. Frontline workers have little time for community engagement because they have enormous reporting responsibilities across platforms. This could result in inconsistencies and could eventually hit reliability parameters. Unless administrators get analytical feedback in real-time, it will be difficult to take corrective action efficiently. Our inequities continue as there’s no granular analysis of data.

There are human resource constraints too. We do not have adequate number of trained nurses, obstetricians and lab technicians and this effects the quality of healthcare for women especially in rural areas. Our frontline workforce comprising ASHA and Anganwadi workers are burdened and underpaid for the work they do. Specialist services like obstetrics, reproductive medicine, and oncology remain unevenly distributed, especially in smaller towns and rural districts. Frequent disruptions in supply chain often hit the availability iron, folic acid supplements and other essential medicines. In remote areas of the country, social norms still deter early antenatal registrations or institutional care and that requires an extensive awareness campaign and that would require additional funds

In the final analysis it should be stated that women’s health is foundational to economic productivity of the country. We need a cultural shift toward measurable impact and for that symbolism must yield to systems. The real measure of a country’s advancements is not captured by its GDP alone. Its nucleus lay embedded in the well-being of its women. When women prosper, communities develop strength and the nation becomes resilient. Not paying sufficient attention to women’s health can’t be seen just as a health crisis but as impediment to the progress of the country. The time for incremental changes has passed.