Members of the WHO's Commission for Social Determinants of Health met the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, here today. They expressed their willingness to study in greater detail the social determinants which affect health. Health is not a matter of treatment of diseases alone, but is a composite function related to the unsolved social and economic problems including questions of gender equity. The members were made aware of the political commitment towards improving the health conditions.

The Prime Minister stated that though literacy and life expectancy has gone up over the decades, however the rates of reduction of IMR and MMR were more or less static. India faces the problem of both the preventive and curative issues imposing a double burden. Improvement in safe drinking water and sanitation would be a major determinant of improving health parameters. Hence, there was a need to undertake detailed study of the control variables for selective policy interventions so as to maximize outcomes within the financial allocations. The Commission members were keen to elicit India's response to the various challenges and learn from India's experiences in making health truly a people's programme with people's involvement. The Commission was assured of India's cooperation in the conduct of the detailed study in this area.