Prof. K. Srinath Reddy has issued a call to action: India must address an intertwined crisis of air pollution, chronic illnesses, and women’s health disparities. As per The Economic Times, he emphasized that for the country to achieve its Viksit Bharat vision, health leaders and policymakers must take bold, proactive steps.
Life expectancy isn’t enough — healthy life expectancy lags, especially for women
Prof. Reddy underscored a large gap between overall life expectancy and healthy life expectancy in India, a difference that proves particularly wide for women. He argued that health planning has long viewed women primarily through the lens of reproductive health. However, women are more than their reproductive roles, and policymakers must broaden focus to include chronic diseases across all stages of life.
Air pollution as a hidden but major driver of multiple health risks
He warned that air pollution is an underestimated culprit behind cardiovascular disease, strokes, complications in pregnancy, and even cognitive decline. Moreover, particulate matter can cross the placenta, thus affecting unborn children. To protect populations — especially in highly polluted zones like slums and busy highways — Prof. Reddy urged integrating air pollution into all national health policies. Measures such as expanding green spaces, improving ventilation in schools, and distributing masks during high‑smog periods offer immediate protection.
Using a life‑course approach and embracing complexity in public health
Prof. Reddy argued for a life‑course perspective: linking early childhood exposures, lifestyle factors, and aging to understand chronic disease outcomes. He recommended forming “interdigitating cohorts” — overlapping, connected studies — rather than trying to maintain a single long‑term cohort over several decades. Moreover, he urged the public health community to adopt complexity science in epidemiology to understand how multiple risk factors, environmental determinants, and genetics interact in non‑linear ways.
Tackling commercial determinants, strengthening health systems
While India has made progress on tobacco control, Prof. Reddy cautioned that chronic disease prevention remains at risk due to commercial determinants of health — including the growing influence of ultra‑processed foods and reliance on fossil fuels. He called for health systems to become more “alert, adaptive, and anticipatory,” dominated by strong primary care, universal health coverage, sustainable financing, and seamless links between primary, secondary, and tertiary care. He also emphasized real‑time surveillance for non‑communicable diseases and their risk factors, leveraging citizen‑driven digital platforms to capture community exposures and early warning signals.
Science, policy critique, and collaborative networks: anchors of progress
Finally, Prof. Reddy stressed that research must not only help create policy but also evaluate whether those policies work, identify barriers, and suggest improvements. He reflected on the Centre for Chronic Disease Control’s (CCDC) 25‑year journey — from studies on cardiovascular disease and diabetes to research on air pollution, climate change, women’s health, and multimorbidity — and called for equitable partnerships across institutions. Such collaboration, he argued, will help India bend the chronic disease curve and ensure that longer lives are also healthier lives.