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Hong Kong, China — April 7 is celebrated as World Health Day. This year's theme adopted by the World Health Organization is the need to protect health from the adverse effects of climate change. This theme, though relevant in the context of global warming and the rapid depletion of natural resources, is of less importance to the average citizen in many developing nations. This is because the basic right to health is denied to millions of poor people in these countries -- not due to climate change, but due to the lack of it -- the absence of a changing climate in governmental attitudes.

India is an example of this phenomenon. A glance at statistics concerning the protection and promotion of health in the country makes this evident. India, the second most populous country in the world with an estimated population of 1.1 billion people, spends very little on government-sponsored healthcare facilities in comparison to other Asian countries.

According to the available statistics, total expenditures on health are only 4.3 percent of gross domestic product; the government spends only 3.6 percent of its total expenditures on health. Only 30 percent of the population has sustainable access to improved sanitation facilities. About 36 percent of the total population does not have access to clean drinking water.

With 29 percent of the total population living below the national poverty line, India is ranked 127 in the Human Development Index, worse than its Central African counterpart Equatorial Guinea. The Human Population Index, which measures severe deprivation in health by the proportion of people who are not expected to survive to the age of 40, ranks India as 31.3, below such African countries as Botswana, Cameron and Chad.

Such vital figures do not suggest, however, that India is a poor country. The average middle-class person and the neo-rich in India live a comfortable life. It is the 29 percent of the population that lives below the national poverty line that is adversely affected by these living conditions.

For example, there are hundreds of villages in India that lack any form of medical facilities. In places where such facilities do exist, the services are denied to ordinary people due to a wide range of issues, from corruption to caste-based discrimination. It is a common phenomenon in India for government-sponsored health centers to be closed, denying the general public any form of services.

Moreover, there are villages in India where people have to travel more than 20 kilometers to get to the nearest government health center. Yet after reaching the center patients frequently find that either the center is closed or, if it is open, it lacks a medical officer or, if the medical officer is present, there is no medicine available. Such neglect has resulted in people preferring not to take the trouble to travel long distances to seek professional medical services that are usually not available. Instead they let fate and a local quack treat their ailments.

The only other alternative in India is private healthcare facilities. This sector provides state-of-the-art facilities, possibly better than anywhere else in the world. However, these facilities are beyond the economic reach of the poor.

One important element that affects the right to health in India is starvation and malnutrition. Almost all those who live below the poverty line have difficulty finding a day's meal. The government distributes food grains and other essential items, like cooking oil and sugar, either free or at subsidized prices to those who cannot afford to buy them on the open market. However, this public food distribution system is plagued with corruption. No attempts whatsoever have been made to prevent or end corruption in this agency.

The ultimate picture of the state's neglect in providing healthcare in India is reflected in the omnipresence of contagious diseases. Polio, measles and tuberculosis are common among the poor, with infants and women suffering the most. An estimated 48 percent of rural children below the age of five, and 35 percent of urban children below the same age, suffer from malnutrition-induced ailments, ranging from rickets to stunted growth. The child mortality rate is 85 for every 1,000 births. This figure excludes miscarriages owing to the poor health of the mother and gender-based discrimination.

With living conditions as traumatic as those described above, the emphasis in countries like India must be for such agencies as the WHO to focus on increasing government participation in ensuring the right to health for all. There are community-based healthcare programs initiated by organizations throughout India. However, the work of these groups often comes under fire by the government since these groups, through their work, expose corruption and neglect in the health sector, which the government so far is trying to sweep under the bureaucratic carpet.

Climate change, a global phenomenon, will not spare India or Indians. Being rich or poor does not make a difference to global climatic patterns. Every person in the world is affected. In countries like India, however, it will not be a drastic change in the climate years from now that will cause a massive loss of human life, for people die every day now from hunger, malnutrition and the contamination of their food and water.

Sadly, in places like India, people die from simple ailments that the rest of the world no longer considers life-threatening. This manmade tragedy is the result of utter neglect and corrupt practices. It is issues like these that global agencies must equally address while worrying about worse times to come.

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(Bijo Francis is a human rights lawyer currently working with the Asian Legal Resource Center in Hong Kong. He is responsible for the South Asia desk at the center. Mr. Francis has practiced law for more than a decade and holds an advanced master's degree in human rights law.)