A Budget for Well-being Freedom

Allocations towards medical interventions will not be sufficient; simultaneously improving our physical, mental, and social well-being needs to be prioritised

- ALI MEHDI

THIS YEAR, WE celebrate the 75th anniversary of the enactment of our Constitution and the 77th anniversary of becoming party to the Constitution of the World Health Organization (WHO) – on January 12, 1948.

India's Constitution begins with "WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA". Can the Budget prioritise "We, the people of India", heeding the advice of the WHO Council on the Economics of Health for All: "alongside a diverse and sustainable environment, a healthy population must be the ultimate goal of economic activity" (bit.ly/40GJpqo)?

This advice also makes good economic sense. "Good health is a major resource for social, economic, and personal development and an important dimension of quality of life" (WHO's Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, 1986).

Improvements in life expectancy at birth—the most basic measure of health—accounted for 75% of the global increase in average years of schooling for people born during 1922–87 and 38% of growth in gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in the 20th century (bit.ly/3VQHjS9).