Author: Neal Bharadwaj
Introduction
United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3 aims to, “ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.” Towards this goal of achieving a healthier world, India and Finland set targets for their health sector. Though the journeys of the two countries mirror jarring contrasts in both their health care systems, socio-economic conditions, and governmental policies.
India has traveled a long distance but has much more to cover in terms of dealing with issues like maternal mortality, malnutrition, and access to health delivery. Finland is often considered one of the best countries in the world to fall ill in because of its high-performing system with universal access and very strong preventive measures. This article examines the performance of the two countries on SDG 3 and explores what India can learn from Finland’s successes in health.
The Importance of SDG 3 for India and Finland
The health-related targets of SDG 3 include reduction in maternal and children deaths, resistance to epidemics, improvement in mental health, and universal health coverage. India is a vast country with over 1.4 billion people, and it would be pretty hard to target such a huge number. Malnutrition, maternal mortality, and various other non-communicable diseases have been an old problem in the nation.
With an estimated population of 5.5 million, Finland has a health profile of the public through a well-evolved infrastructure of healthcare with complete coverage and a preventive culture. The government attempted to curb inequalities in health, make mental health an integral feature, and see that no hidden area was left uncovered by adequate health care.
What makes Finland an exemplar in achieving SDG 3 and which of the approaches could be extrapolated to India to help them achieve the targets more rapidly?
India and Finland: Comparative Profile of Progress toward SDG 3
Maternal and Child Health Target 3.1 and 3.2
India Scenario: India has drastically reduced her MMR, but she is still at 103 deaths per 100,000 live births, much higher than the goal of less than 70. Neonatal and under five mortality rates are high though efforts have been made towards improving prenatal care and nutrition interventions for children, like those through the National Health Mission.
Finland: The maternal mortality rate in Finland is one of the lowest in the world, with fewer than 3 deaths being recorded per 100,000 live births. In addition, the neonatal and under-five mortality rates are low since this country boasts a well-structured health care system that facilitates comprehensive maternal and child care with early screenings as well as free healthcare services.
What India Can Learn: This is with a good hope that India may be able to learn from Finland’s success of building a very robust primary healthcare network focused on the quality care of mothers and children. Improvement in access across the population of prenatal and postnatal care, increased funding for health in rural areas, and nutrition and family planning education will significantly reduce India’s maternal and infant mortality rates.
Control of epidemic and communicable disease 3.3
India Status: India is also plagued by infectious diseases including tuberculosis and malaria, but the heavy fall was seen in AIDS, and for the rest causes significant death. The greatest concern though is that the mass population unavailable or scarce proper healthcare is in the countryside.
What India Can Adapt: India could adjust the Finnish preventive health model to focus more on immunization programs and early detection along with robust public health drives. Expanding primary healthcare facilities across the rural belt and ensuring computerized health education for the masses can also help combat communicable diseases.
The prevention and reduction of NCDs (3.4)
India: NCDs are now increasingly rising all over India be it for heart disease, diabetes, and/or cancer. NCDs accounted for more than 60% of the deaths. Many of these are indeed lifestyle-related causes such as diet, smoking, or lack of exercise.
Finland way: Finland is among the first countries in the world where premature deaths due to NCD have reduced. Public health interventions focused on reducing tobacco and alcohol use consumption, increased activity levels, and improved mental health service provision. Mental health strategy and National strategy on mental health 2020-2030 aims at promoting better mental well-being and reducing suicides that are already decreasing.
What India Can Learn: Prevention has been the bottom-line reason for Finland’s success in reducing NCDs. India may begin to run massive public health campaigns emphasizing the underlying causes of NCDs, which can be bad nutrition and tobacco. India can provide free or low-cost screening services and mental health awareness programmes to grapple with the ever-rising prevalence of these diseases.
Mental Health and Well-being Goal 3.4, and 3.5
India’s Situation: Mental health problems remain relatively under-staffed in the country, although the country is steadily reporting on anxiety-related, depression, and even suicide cases- especially amongst the youth. The lack of consciousness of mental health issues, societal stigma, and inefficient services continue to stop the country from tackling the issue.
The Strategy of Finland: Finland has been quite active and continues working to enact a national policy and campaign for its mental health. Having a National Mental Health Strategy has provided critical momentum in consideration for mental health in overall well-being. Improvements in mental health services and public education campaigns have seen reductions in the number of suicides over time.
What India Can Learn: While Finland has made immense efforts on de-stigmatization of mental health issues and integration with primary health-care services, India can learn a few things from them. Resource allocation should be made towards raising awareness, training professionals for treatment, and putting in place accessible mental health care at an affordable price throughout the country.
The healthcare in Finland is universal. This means that everyone in every financial situation will be able to go for the available healthcare. Everyone gets timely attention to their problems, and no health issues escalate. Increased access to primary and specialized health care will allow India to make its health care more equitable, especially in more under-resourced areas of the country.
Preventive Healthcare Focus
In Finland, preventive health care has been given proper importance, and thus even communicable and non-communicable diseases are detected early. India needs such an acceptance at the community level to develop an early mode of detection and health education.
Prior Mental Health
It addresses one of the most important features of mental well-being in a larger health framework. India could really develop a national strategy that would include regular mental health education, reduction of stigma about mental illness and making available and affordable mental health services.
Reducing Health Inequalities
Due to the different regional disparities, Finland cannot be said to have universal coverage, though it has a safety net. India can look forward to more Finnish policies to reduce healthcare inequity by giving quality care to their marginalized groups.
Conclusion
In Conclusion, though the journey of healthcare in India has been highly successful, especially when focusing on maternal health and eradication of diseases, much is yet to be learned and adopting the Finnish stride into preventive health care, mental health care along with universal accessibility could help India. Thus, as India adopts some of these strategies, it moves closer toward SDG 3 targets,paving the future with a healthier society for its citizens. As India steps forward step by step toward SDG 3, a very important question of the day is what the country will do today to build a healthier tomorrow.
References
- India Briefing. “India’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Index 2023-24.” India-Briefing
- Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. “National Health Mission.” National Health Mission
- United Nations. “Sustainable Development Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.” SDG 3
- Statistics Finland. “Health statistics in Finland.” Statistics Finland
- Finnish Government. “Finland’s National Mental Health Strategy 2020-2030.”
World Health Organization. “Universal Health Coverage in Finland.” WHO – Finland
