Health
Health — disease outbreaks, vaccines, medical advances
12 min read · Updated 2026-05-25
What is Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY?
Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY is India's publicly funded health assurance scheme, covering eligible families for ₹5 lakh a year of secondary and tertiary hospitalisation and reaching about 55 crore people. From October 2024 the Ayushman Vay Vandana card extended the same cover to every citizen aged 70 and above regardless of income; the scheme's primary-care arm is the 1.7 lakh Ayushman Arogya Mandirs.
The story
14 August 2024, 10:14 PM, WHO press briefing, Geneva. Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declares Mpox (formerly Monkeypox) a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) — the second time in two years. The trigger: a new clade Ib variant tearing through the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya with 18,000+ cases and 600+ deaths. Within hours, Indian airports activate thermal screening for travellers from the affected African states; Karnataka and Kerala issue public advisories. The Mpox declaration is the second PHEIC since COVID-19 (which was declared January 2020, lifted May 2023).
Two months later, on 14 October 2024, the Health Ministry announces India is eliminating Trachoma — the first country in WHO's South-East Asia Region to do so. Trachoma had been the leading cause of preventable blindness in India until the mid-2000s. The same week, India's TB Notification crossed 26.6 lakh cases (CY 2023), a 10% rise — but Mission Indradhanush 5.0 vaccination scaled to 88% saturation.
Health in current affairs is a balance of outbreaks (Nipah, Mpox, H5N1, dengue) and achievements (eliminations, new vaccines, AB-PMJAY expansion).
Why this matters for UPSC
Health yields 1-2 Prelims picks every cycle (disease classifications, vaccine schedules, scheme metrics) and is a recurring GS-II / GS-III Mains anchor (health-system governance, NRHM/NHM, PMJAY, mental health, AMR). Interview boards probe topical outbreaks ("What is your view on the Mpox declaration?"). High-yield: outbreaks (Nipah, Mpox, H5N1), vaccines (COVID, HPV, Cervavac), eliminations (Trachoma, Yaws, maternal-neonatal tetanus, Polio in 2014), AB-PMJAY metrics.