Health status and Health problems of India

Health status and Health problems of India:

An assessment of the health status and health problems is the first requisite for any planned effort to develop health care services. This is also known as community diagnosis. Healthcare in India features a universal health care system run by the constituent states and territories of India. The Constitution charges every state with "raising of the level of nutrition and the standard of living of its people and the improvement of public health as among its primary duties" The data required for analysing the health situation and for defining the health problems comprise as of following.

Morbidity and mortality statistics

Demographic conditions of the population

Environmental conditions which have a bearing on health

Socio-economic factors which have a direct effect on health

Cultural background, attitudes, beliefs and practices which affect health

Medical and health services available

Current systems of health care

Many diseases can be prevented, yet health care systems do not make the best use of their available resources to support this process. All too often, health care workers fail to seize patient interactions as opportunities to inform patients about health promotion and disease prevention strategies.

Most current health care systems are based on responding to acute problems, urgent needs of patients, and pressing concerns. Testing, diagnosing, relieving symptoms, and expecting a cure are hallmarks of contemporary health care. While these functions are appropriate for acute and episodic health problems, a notable disparity occurs when applying this model of care to the prevention and management of chronic conditions. Preventive health care is inherently different from health care for acute problems, and in this regard, current health care systems worldwide fall remarkably short.

 Health Problems: The health problems of India may be conveniently grouped under the following heads:

Communicable disease problems

Nutritional problems

Environmental sanitation problems

Medical care problems

Population problems

Communicable disease problems:

 India is undergoing an epidemiologic, demo-graphic and health transition. The expectancy of life has increased, with consequent rise in degenerative diseases of aging and life-styles. Nevertheless, communicable diseases are still dominant and constitute major public health issues.

MALARIA

The emergence of chloroquin resistance in P.falciparum and vector resistance to commonly used insecticides are the main obstacles in the control of malaria in the country. New technologies are being introduced for malaria control under Enhanced Malaria Control Programme. The roll back malaria programme has been launched simultaneously in all malaria endemic countries. These have thrown new challenges in malaria research. The Council's institutes viz. Malaria Research Centre (MRC), Vector Control Research Centre (VCRC) and other institutes are making efforts to address these problems through focused research in vector and parasite biology and ecology, development of malaria control tools, drug development, testing and validation of new technologies.

FILARIASIS

The Council's Vector Control Research Centre (VCRC) at Pondicherry and RMRC, Bhubaneswar have focused their research in the field of vector biology and control, clinical epidemiology and chemotherapy, applied field research and product development. It is identified in the 13 districts of 7 endemic states, namely, AP, Bihar, Kerala, Orissa, TN, UP, WB, covering about 41 million infected persons.  The Centre has geared its activity towards transferring the technical know-how to the field for optimum and appropriate application for elimination of filariasis so that latest technical knowledge is absorbed into the Programme.

TUBERCULOSIS

Tuberculosis accounts for a loss of approximately 11 million disability adjusted life years (DALYs). The burden of disease may increase further with the emergence of the HIV epidemic. Approximately 1.8 million new cases of which about 0.8 million are highly infectious smear positive are reported every year.  About 4.17 lakh persons die of TB every year in the country.

The Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP) which covers more than 120 million population has successfully treated approximately 80% of patients in 48 districts of 16 states and Union Territories. Treatment success rates have more than doubled and death rates have decreased by 75 per cent. The ICMR's Tuberculosis Research Centre (TRC) at Chennai is providing research support to the RNTCP through the conduct of basic, applied and operational research to develop better tools and training strategies for tuberculosis control.