# Power to empower must include power to stay well

> India's health strategy could boost its global influence by preventing chronic disease in workers.
- Title: Power to empower must include power to stay well | Shortify
- Summary: India's health strategy could boost its global influence by preventing chronic disease in workers. India must prioritize health as national power to unlock…
- Keywords: india, chronic diseases, vikkshit bharat, ayushman bharat digital mission, health data privacy, digital public infrastructure, preventive healthcare, Power, empower, must, include, stay
- Source: The Economic Times — https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/healthcare/biotech/healthcare/power-to-empower-must-include-the-power-to-stay-well/articleshow/135212047.cms
- Author: ET CONTRIBUTORS
- Published: 2026-10-26T12:47:00+00:00
- Read time: 2 min
- Topics: india, chronic diseases, vikkshit bharat, ayushman bharat digital mission, health data privacy, digital public infrastructure, preventive healthcare
## Bloomberg Forum theme
Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted India's digital public infrastructure, vaccines for 100+ countries, generic medicines, and 2000+ global capability centres at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum.

> power to empower: power that enables rather than controls, and helps others succeed
## Working population peak
India's working-age share peaks around the early 2040s, with 14.9 crore Indians aged 60+ in 2022 projected to rise to 34.7 crore by 2050.
## Chronic disease burden
10.1 crore Indians have diabetes, 13.6 crore have prediabetes, and 31.5 crore have high blood pressure, causing 60% of deaths.
## Economic impact
Non-communicable diseases could cost India over $4 trillion in lost output between 2012 and 2030, according to a World Economic Forum and Harvard study.
## CoWIN success
India managed 220 crore vaccine doses through CoWIN, sharing the platform as free, open-source software globally.
## Digital health progress
By July 2026, Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission will have 94 crore health IDs and 105 crore health records linked across 5.33 lakh facilities.
## Prevention gap
Current digital health records document past care, but a prevention layer could identify rising risks like blood sugar and blood pressure trends before crises.
## AI for health
AI tools could track health risks and route people to follow-up before emergencies, similar to vaccination drives for chronic disease.
## AI safeguards
Business leaders like Noubar Afeyan and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw called for tighter AI safeguards, especially for health data consent and insurance access.
## India's global role
India has signed digital public infrastructure agreements with 24 countries and offers 18 platforms through India Stack Global.
## Action plan
India must track healthy life expectancy, build consent-first prevention layers, upskill prevention workers, treat prevention as capital expenditure, and share the system globally.
## Power to stay well
India's health strategy could unlock workforce potential and share prevention tools globally, fulfilling the Prime Minister's 'power to empower' vision.
## Key takeaway

India must prioritize health as national power to unlock its workforce potential and share prevention tools globally.