WE MUST EXTEND HEALTH SPAN, NOT JUST LIFE SPAN

Even a 'cured' disease often leaves behind disabilities impairing the quality of life. If we can't ensure wholesome health, the expected demographic dividend will continue to elude us

- K SRINATH REDDY

All parents fondly wish that their children grow to enjoy a full and fulfilling life. Those children too desire to age well so that their lives are not marred by disease and disability. They hope to remain fit and functioning rather than frail and feeble till the end of their life. It will be a poor trade-off if their life expectancy increases but those added years are full of suffering due to poor health.

The 20th century saw a marked rise in human life expectancy globally, despite world wars and a host of infectious diseases. This resulted from a combination of improved living conditions and advances in preventive, diagnostic and curative medical services. Improvements in water, sanitation, nutrition, education, income, occupational safety and women's status in society accompanied economic development and education.

These also stimulated a surge of science and technology. Simultaneously, large populations in Asia, Africa and the Americas wrested freedom from colonial rule and charted their developmental journeys. More diseases were prevented and more lives were saved than ever before, to yield a bounty of long life expectancy. However, even a 'cured' disease often left behind disabilities that detracted from fulsome functionality and impaired the quality of life, increased dependency on others and carried high financial costs of chronic healthcare.