Government working tirelessly to make India healthy: PM Narendra Modi

NEW DELHI: On the World Health Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said his government is working tirelessly to realise the dream of a healthy India where everyone has access to affordable healthcare.

"Government is working tirelessly to realise the dream of a Healthy India where every citizen has access to proper and affordable healthcare," he said in a statement.

He noted that the theme of this year's World Health Day is food safety which is an essential pre-condition for good health and everyone must focus on it.

"On World Health Day, I pray that all of you remain in the best of health and at the same time inspire others to lead a healthy life," he said.

In his message, Health Minister J P Nadda said there is a need to adopt healthy lifestyle and hygenic practices.

"Let us all adopt a healthy lifestyle and hygienic practices for a healthy and happy life," he tweeted.

According to World Health Organization (WHO), over two million people - 1.5 million of them children - die each year in the world due to diarrhoea from contaminated food and water.

Out of the two million, nearly 700,000 die in South Asian countries alone. In 2013, about 10 per cent of the deaths in India of children below 5 years were due to diarrhoea.