Understanding disease categories and India's public health response, including vaccination programmes.
Communicable diseases spread from person to person or through vectors (e.g. tuberculosis, malaria, dengue, COVID-19). Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) — such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer — are not transmitted between people and are typically linked to lifestyle, genetics, or environmental factors. India faces a "double burden" of disease — continuing to fight communicable diseases while NCDs rise sharply due to changing lifestyles and increasing life expectancy.
Diseases like malaria (spread by Anopheles mosquitoes), dengue and chikungunya (spread by Aedes mosquitoes), remain significant public health challenges in India, particularly during and after the monsoon season, when mosquito breeding conditions are favourable.
India runs one of the world's largest immunisation programmes through the Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP), covering diseases like diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio, measles, and more. India is also a major global vaccine manufacturer — a role that became especially prominent during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Indian-manufactured vaccines were distributed both domestically and internationally.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is the apex body for biomedical research in India, while the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) coordinates disease surveillance and outbreak response.
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