9/24/2009

Semester III

Kandarp N Talati
MBA – Healthcare Management
 “Awareness is the first step towards concrete change.”

This quote is the guiding philosophy and motivation behind this assignment. Friends as we all
know; we won’t act unless we are aware of the facts. And the other way round we can also say,
“Learning Facts helps to Act”. So this assignment essentially contains some eye-opening facts
and statistics about the communicable and non-communicable diseases to sensitize our
understanding that might aware us of the seriousness of the re-emergence of infectious diseases
PAPER -I
and increasing prevalence of non-communicable diseases as a result of lifestyle changes and
urbanization. I hope these facts would direct our thought process and actions to bring about
necessary changes in our routine diet and life-style pattern at least on individual basis.

According to the estimates in ‘The world health report 2004’, there were 57 million deaths in the
world in 2002. The broad category of all "non-communicable diseases" killed 33.5 million
people (59%); communicable diseases, maternal and perinatal conditions, and nutritional
conditions killed 18.3 million people worldwide (32%); and external causes of injuries killed 5.2
million people (9%).

CIA
When analyzingCOMMUNICABLE &following
at disaggregated level, the NON-areCOMMUNICABLE DISEASES
the leading causes of death:
Estimated number of deaths
No. Cause
(in millions)
1 Ischaemic heart disease (NCD) 7.2
2 Cerebrovascular disease (NCD) 5.5
3 HIV/AIDS 2.8
4 ICRI - (NCD)
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Ahmedabad 2.7
5 Diarrhoeal diseases 1.8
6 Tuberculosis 1.6
7 Malaria 1.3
8 Diabetes mellitus (NCD) 1
Source: The world health report 2004
(NCD: Non-Communicable Disease)
From the above statistics it is clear that NCDs are major causes of death and disability worldwide
and the below mention chart deliberately suggests INDIA is no exception. In India, chronic
diseases were projected to account for 53% of all deaths.

Moreover, WHO projects that over the next 10 years in India:

✔ Over 60 million people will die from a chronic disease.

✔ Deaths from infectious diseases, maternal and perinatal conditions, and nutritional
deficiencies combined will decrease by 15%.
✔ Deaths from chronic diseases will increase by 18% - most markedly, deaths from diabetes
will increase by 35%
✔ An additional 2% annual reduction in national-level chronic disease death rates would
result in an economic gain of 15 billion dollars for the country.

WHO also suggests that at least 80% of premature heart disease, stroke and type 2
diabetes, and 40% of cancer could be prevented through healthy diet, regular physical
activity and avoidance of tobacco products.

Impact on Economy:

There is no need to mention that premature death would definitely result in loss of potentially
productive years of life and this has direct bearing on nation’s productivity and thereby on
economy. Moreover NCDs create large adverse – and underappreciated – economic effects on
families, communities and so on the country.

In 2005 alone, it is estimated that India will lose 9 billion dollars in national income from
premature deaths due to heart disease, stroke and diabetes. Cumulatively, India stands to lose
237 billion dollars over the next 10 years from premature deaths due to heart disease, stroke and
diabetes.

Challenges in Indian Context:

In Indian context, along with the growing prevalence of NCDs, resurfacing of communicable
diseases like malaria, dengue fever and poliomyelitis poses dual burden of diseases to the nation.

In addition to the dual burden of communicable diseases and NCDs, there are other serious
lacunae in the health system, which need to be corrected if the targets set by National Health
Policy are to be achieved. The public health care system today, lacks the necessary political will
evident through India’s position among lowest public health spending countries in the world.

Moreover, there is a significant deficit in manpower and infrastructure available in the country
coupled with inadequacy of financial resources. The deficit for the major items include
Community Health Centres (56%), Primary Health Centres (15%), Doctors (31%) etc. Even
where public health services exist, the quality of services is extremely poor.

To cope up with existing challenges and strengthen the primary health services the need of the
hour is to provide quality health care at all levels by using methods which are affordable,
acceptable and accessible to all along with increasing community awareness to support national
or local health programs through information, education and communication. We can do so by
putting our existing resources to optimal use and by exploiting the feasibility of Public Private
Partnerships towards healthy INDIA.