India, Nov. 4 -- The next test is whether India can sustain the public health systems and infrastructure it built to address and eliminate other diseases.

Public health capacity weakens when political attention drifts, local systems are stretched and community engagement is treated as expendable once the immediate crisis passes. That would be a costly mistake. The next phase of India's health agenda demands the same seriousness that drove polio eradication, even if the threats look different.

Today's challenges are already clear: Improving routine immunisation in underserved districts, expanding HPV immunisation coverage, strengthening disease surveillance and preparing for disease outbreaks. None of these can be addressed through annou...