India to increase public health spending to 2.5% of GDP: PM Modi

India is set to increase its public health spending to 2.5 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) by 2025, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Wednesday.

He also said India is one of the first countries to advocate focused attention on adolescence and to implement a full-fledged health promotion and prevention programme for adolescents.

Addressing the 2018 Partners’ Forum here, he said the central government is set to increase its spending on public health to 2.5 per cent of the GDP.

As of now, the country spends 1.15 per cent of the GDP on health.

The Partners’ Forum meet this year will focus on improving multi-sectoral action for results, sharing country solutions and capturing the best practices and knowledge within the health sector and among related sectors. Modi said that under Mission Indradhaush, a massive immunisation programme, India reached 32.8 million children and 8.4 million pregnant women over the last three years.

“We have made a lot of progress in the last few years and yet a lot remains to be done. From bigger budgets to better outcomes and from mindset change to monitoring, there are a lot of interventions required,” he told the gathering which comprised experts from several countries.