Seven years ahead of the 2030 deadline, India is missing the target for more than 50 percent of United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicators related to health and social determinants of health, according to a study published in The Lancet.
An international team of researchers found that more than 75 percent of India’s districts are off target for key SDG indicators such as access to basic services, poverty, child stunting and wasting, anaemia, child marriage, intimate partner violence, tobacco use and use of modern contraception.
For these indicators, more than 75 percent of the districts were outside the target. These districts are concentrated in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar and Odisha.
The study says:
•India is not meeting the targets for 19 of the 33 SDGs indicators… Due to the worsening trend observed between 2016 and 2021, and assuming no course correction, many districts will never meet the SDGs targets even after 2030.
•Developing a strategic plan at this time will help India ensure success in meeting the SDGs.
•India’s emergence and sustainment as a leading economic power depends on immediate and equitable fulfillment of some of the core health and social determinants of health-related SDGs
•The study provides the first systematic mid-term assessment of the progress made by 707 of India’s 763 districts towards achieving SDG targets related to health and social determinants of health.
Institute of Economic Growth
The assessment suggests an urgent need to increase the pace and momentum of the four SDGs: No Poverty (SDG 1), Zero Hunger (SDG 2), Good Health and Well-being (SDG 3) and Gender Equality (SDG 5).
Researchers from Harvard University in the US, Laxmi Mittal and the Family South Asia Institute in New Delhi, the Graduate School of Korea University and the Institute of Economic Growth, New Delhi, also pointed to some positives. India aims to meet 13 of the 33 indicators.
These are internet use, bank account for women, full vaccination, better hygiene, reduction of multidimensional poverty, registration of births, skilled midwives, access to electricity, reduction of tobacco consumption among women, reduction of child marriage among under 15s. old girls, under-five mortality, adolescent sexual violence and infant mortality.
Among the 19 non-target indicators, conditions worsened for three related to anemia due to an increase in the prevalence of anemia among pregnant and non-pregnant women between 2016 and 2021. The authors believe that if this trend continues, India would never be able to meet the SDGS targets related to anaemia.
For the remaining 16 indicators that are off-target, the observed rate of change between 2016 and 2021, while in the desired direction, is insufficient to meet the SDG targets by 2030, they said.
Assuming the observed rate of change, India will meet its targets for better water by 2031, handwashing facilities by 2033, clean cooking fuel by 2035, teen pregnancy by 2039 and partner violence (sexual) by 2040, according to the researchers. Another 11 non-target indicators will be met between 2041 and 2162, including access to basic services in 2047 and partner violence (physical or sexual) in 2090, they added.
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