For the first time, the Asia Economic Dialogue (AED) placed public health at the heart of its economic discussions, with a powerful session on \u201cConnecting Public Health and Economic Development\u201d<\/p>\n
On day 2, underscoring that India\u2019s growth ambitions cannot be achieved without strong health foundations.<\/p>\n
Chaired by Dr. Ashish Bavdekar, Head of Pediatrics, KEM Hospital, Pune, the panel brought together Dr. Tandi Dorji, former Foreign Minister of Bhutan; Prof. Sanjay Zodpey, President of the Public Health Foundation of India; Ingvild Kjerkol, former Health Minister of Norway; and Dr. Abhishek Kumar of FLAME University.<\/p>\n
Opening the discussion, Dr. Bavdekar drew a clear distinction between healthcare and public health. He emphasised that building hospitals and hiring doctors, though important, does not by itself constitute public health. True public health involves strengthening primary care, ensuring safe water and nutrition, addressing environmental risks, and promoting equity across socio-economic and geographic divides. He also drew a distinction between economic growth, measured by GDP expansion, and economic development, which includes broader indicators such as health, education, and quality of life. Despite India\u2019s remarkable economic rise in recent years, he noted that improvements in population-level health indicators have not kept pace, pointing to a structural disconnect that demands policy attention. Public health is not an expenditure; it is an investment in human capital, he added.<\/p>\n
Prof. Zodpey highlighted the virtuous cycle between health and growth. \u201cWhen we create one job in the health sector, three to four additional jobs are generated across the economy,\u201d he noted, arguing that public investment in primary care and prevention is essential to sustainable development. He stressed that strengthening primary healthcare and addressing broader determinants such as air pollution, sanitation, and living conditions would deliver far greater economic and social returns than focusing disproportionately on tertiary care.<\/p>\n
Dr. Abhishek Kumar stressed productivity and demographic urgency. \u201cAn unhealthy workforce cannot sustain economic momentum,\u201d he said, cautioning that high out-of-pocket medical expenses divert household savings away from opportunity and investment.<\/p>\n
Drawing on Bhutan\u2019s experience, Dr. Dorji said constitutional guarantees for healthcare reinforce equity and resilience. From Norway\u2019s perspective, Kjerkol emphasised trust: \u201cHealth is not a sector on the side of the economy \u2014 it is the foundation beneath it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The session concluded with a shared message: if India aspires to sustained, inclusive growth, investing in robust public health systems is not optional \u2014 it is indispensable.<\/p>\n
On Day 3, the focus of panel discussions will be Global Trade and Maritime Geoeconomics in the Indian Ocean Region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For the first time, the Asia Economic Dialogue (AED) placed public health at the heart of its economic discussions, with a powerful session on \u201cConnecting Public Health and Economic Development\u201d On day 2, underscoring that India\u2019s growth ambitions cannot be achieved without strong health foundations. Chaired by Dr. Ashish Bavdekar, Head of Pediatrics, KEM Hospital, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23997,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[111,44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industrial","category-pune"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesofpowerandvoice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesofpowerandvoice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesofpowerandvoice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesofpowerandvoice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesofpowerandvoice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23996"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/timesofpowerandvoice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23998,"href":"https:\/\/timesofpowerandvoice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23996\/revisions\/23998"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesofpowerandvoice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesofpowerandvoice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesofpowerandvoice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesofpowerandvoice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}