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Each day in India, we witness the widening contrast between the progress we’re making in health care and the broader state of health in our communities. Diabetes now affects 100 million people, asthma over 30 million Indians (13.09% of the global burden), and antimicrobial resistance contributed to hundreds of thousands of deaths in 2019 alone. These statistics point to something deeper: our health is being shaped not only by treatments and hospitals, but by the environments we live in, the air we breathe, the food systems we rely on, and the choices we make as a society.
We need to think beyond traditional healthcare systems and ask: What truly keeps people healthy? That question demands a more connected view of how cities, education, technology, food, and caregiving come together to support (or undermine) well-being.
The World Health Organization (WHO)’s 2025 pandemic agreement underscored that resilience against future health threats depends not just on vaccines or treatments, but on equitable systems such as strong public infrastructure, clean surroundings, and reliable access to basic services. Health security begins in the spaces we often overlook.
Urban design and food systems are deeply intertwined with public health. Cities with limited green cover, high pollution, and few walkable spaces not only strain respiratory and mental health but also limit opportunities for active living and access to fresh food. Meanwhile, changing dietary patterns have fuelled a rise in non-communicable diseases linked to poor nutrition. The solution lies in aligning urban planning, agriculture, and public policy with health outcomes – by integrating green spaces, supporting nutritious crops, incorporating healthy meals into public programmes, and raising awareness around preventive nutrition. These systemic choices shape health long before a clinic is in sight.
Effecting change at scale necessitates public-private partnership, and schemes like Eat Right India, TB Mukt Bharat, or even Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY, which involves private hospitals as empanelled partners for free treatment of beneficiaries, are heartening examples.
We know that lifelong health habits are built early. Yet our education systems have not fully embraced health literacy as a core objective. Beyond lessons on hygiene or nutrition, students need practical experiences–such as school gardens, simple air-monitoring kits, student-run health clubs – that connect well-being to environment, behaviour and choice.
Technology also offers us an opportunity to act earlier. Predictive diagnostics, powered by data and Artificial Intelligence (AI), can help flag risks and guide care. Early detection has become especially vital for conditions like asthma, where proactive management significantly improves quality of life. Public information campaigns educate individuals and help them manage symptoms early, often before a hospital visit is needed. Prevention is often deeply local.
Health doesn’t start with a prescription and end at hospital discharge. One of the most overlooked aspects of our health ecosystem is caregiving. As chronic and age-related conditions become more common, the burden on caregivers will only grow.
We must treat caregiving as part of the health care system, not just personal duty. This means reimagining support structures, including training community health workers, expanding insurance coverage to home care, providing financial support to informal caregivers, and establishing stronger linkages between hospitals and communities. Kerala’s Vayomithram programme is one model, but we need more such frameworks, adapted to local contexts across the country.
Care must be more culturally embedded, and health systems should value empathy, dignity, and social support alongside clinical outcomes.
Health care companies today must embrace a broader responsibility. Our role is not limited to developing and distributing medicines, important as that remains. We must also ask: How can we support health before disease takes hold? What partnerships can we build outside the traditional health ecosystem?
The urgency is clear with the rising tide of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Solving AMR takes innovation, yes, but it also calls for more access, stewardship, and collaboration across the health ecosystem. Going beyond the pill is not about mission drift, but about mission alignment. When industry plays an active role in shaping healthier societies, we can truly start helping to shape the future.
If we want to make health a shared outcome, we must treat it as a shared responsibility–integrating health thinking into everything, from how we plan cities to how we write school curricula. This means expanding access, investing in early intervention, and valuing care as much as cure. India is already moving forward, from the Fit India Movement that brings wellness into classrooms, to the Smart Cities Mission, which embeds active mobility and air quality into urban design.
A healthier India won’t emerge from medicine alone, but from better design, better understanding, and better collaboration between sectors, disciplines, and institutions. That’s the shift we need to make. And it’s one worth pursuing with clarity and commitment.
This article is authored by Umang Vohra, global CEO and managing director, Cipla Limited.
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