This article appeared in Nature India’s Decade of Discovery magazine published in March 2019 to commemorate 10 years of the DBT/Wellcome Trust India Alliance. The full issue is available here and this article appears on p. 26-27. Article co-authored with Yogeshwar V Kalkonde, Devaki Nambiar and K M Venkat Narayan.

Human health has improved dramatically over the last century: life expectancy has doubled, childhood and maternal mortality have fallen, and common communicable diseases are in decline. Science has played an instrumental role in these improvements. However, glaring gaps exist in our current approach to address the extant human health challenges, and our preparedness to face emerging issues in the global interconnected world of the twenty-first century.