HEALTH PROBLEMS IN

INDIA
ANAMIKA
RAMAWAT M.SC.
NURSING PREV.
BATCH 2017-18
GCON, JODHPUR
Introductio
India is an incredibly diverse and
ngigantic

culturally rich country. Despite
and beautiful
monuments, delicious food, a
booming business sector, and
Bollywood, it still has some
major health issues that many
other countries have minimized
far more successfully. These
health issues affect absolutely
everyone, from the poorest
people to the richest ones and
from those who live there to
tourists who only come for a
short stay.
 Health
Problem
It is a state in which we are unable
to function normally (state of ill
health, unhealthiness).
 HEALTH
PROBLEMS
IN INDIA
There are many health problems those are an obstacle
in the development of the country.
 Communicable
disease
problems
Communicable diseases continue to be
a major problem in India.
 Tu
Dia a.L
b Fila a.AI Oth
rrh ARI
Mal
ari erc ria DS ers
epr
a ul
eal
o
osy
sis
 Malari
a
 Malaria continues to be a health problem in India. Although
total malaria cases have declined compared to previous years,
the proportion of P. falciparum has increased.
 Malaria cases have increased in North-East states,
Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, Andhra
Pradesh, Maharashtra etc.
 During 2013 there were 0.8 million cases of malaria
(which included 0.44 million cases of Pf malaria) and 379
deaths
 Tuberculosi
s
 Tuberculosis remains a public health problem, with
India accounting for one-fifth of the world incidence.
 Every year about 2.6 million persons develop tuberculosis of
which about 0.62 million are new smear positive highly infectious
cases and about 0.24 million people die of TB every year.
 The emergence of HIV-TB co-infection and multidrug resistant
TB has increased the severity and magnitude of the disease.
 In March 2006 RNTCP has achieved nation-wide coverage.
 Diarrhoeal
diseases
 Diarrhoeal diseases constitute one of the major causes of
morbidity and mortality, especially in children below 5 years
of age.
 They are responsible for about 10.76 million cases
of diarrhoea each year.
 Outbreaks of diarrhoeal diseases (including cholera)
continue to occur in India due to poor environmental
conditions.
AR
I Acute respiratory diseases are one of the major censes
of mortality and morbidity in children below 5 years of
age.
 During 2013, 31.7 million episodes Of ARI were
reported with 3,278 deaths.
 Lepros
y
 Leprosy is another important public health problem in India.
 During the year 2013—2014, total of 1.27 lakh new cases were
detected, out of which child cases were 9.49% and deformity grade II
and above was 4.14% percent of cases are estimated to be
multibacillary.
 All the States and Union Territories report cases of leprosy.
 However, there are considerable variations not only between one
State and another, but also between one district and another.
 With the prevalence rate of about 0.68 per 10,000 population, India
has achieved the goal of leprosy elimination at national level.
 Filari
a
 The problem of filaria remains endemic in about 250 districts in 20
States and UTs.
 The population at risk is over 600 million. To achieve elimination of
LF, the Govt. of India has launched nationwide Annual Drug
Administration (MDA) with annual single recommended dose of
diethylcarbamazine citrate tablets in addition to scaling up home
based foot care and hydrocele operations.
 In 2012, 250 endemic districts implemented MDA targeting a
population of about 554 million with a coverage rate of 87 per
cent.
AID
S

 The problem of AIDS is stable. It is

estimated that by the end of year 2012 there
were about
2.08 million HIV positive cases in the country
 Other
s
 Kala-azar
 Meningitis
 viral hepatitis
 Japanese encephalitis
 dengue fever
 enteric fever
 helminthic infestations - are among the other
important communicable disease problems in India
The tragedy is that most of these diseases can
be either easily prevented or treated with
minimum input of resources.
In fact, most of the developed countries of the
world have overcome many of these problems
by such measures as manipulation of
environment, practice of preventive medicine
and, improvement of standards of living.
 Indiais experiencing a rapid epidemiological transition
with a large and rising burden of chronic diseases, which
were estimated to account for 53 per cent of all deaths
and 44 percent of disability adjusted life years lost in
2005.

 NCD’s especially diabetes mellitus, CVDs, cancer, stroke,

and chronic lung diseases have emerged as major
public health problems due to an ageing population
and environmentally-driven changes in behavior.
 Cancer has become an important public health problem in
India with an estimated 7 to 9 lakh cases occurring every year.
 At any point of time, it is estimated that there are nearly 25
lakh cases in the country.
 In India, tobacco related cancers account for about half the
total cancers among men and 20% among women. About one
million tobacco related deaths occur each year, making tobacco
related health issues a major public health concern.
 In India, more than 12 million people are blind.
 Cataract (62.6 per cent) is the main cause of
blindness followed by Refractive Error (19.70 per
cent).
 There has been a significant increase in proportion of
cataract surgeries with Intra Ocular Lens (IOL)
implantation from <5 per cent in 1994 to 95 per cent
in 2011—12.
 Oral Health Care has not been given sufficient
importance in our country.
 Most of the district hospitals have a post of dental
surgeon but they lack equipment, machinery, and
material.
 Even where the equipment exists, the maintenance
is poor, hence service delivery is affected.
 Nutritional
problems
 From the nutritional point of view, the Indian society is
a dual society, consisting of a small group of well fed
and a very large group of undernourished.
 The high-income groups are showing diseases
of affluence which one finds in developed
countries.
 PEM
Nutritional
TYPE Anemia
LBW
S

Xeropthalmi
a IDD
 Insufficiency of food — the so-called "food
gap"— tein-energy
major P
appears troobe
health the chief
problem cause of PEM,
particularly in thewhich
first years
is
of alife. malnutrition
 The great majority of cases of PEM, nearly 80
per cent are mild and moderate cases.
 The incidence of severe cases is 1 to 2 per cent
in preschool age children.
 The problem exists in all the States and
the nutritional marasmus is more frequent
than kwashiorkor
 Nutritional

anemia
India has probably the highest prevalence of nutritional anemia in
women and children.
 About one-half of non-pregnant women and young children are estimated
to suffer from anemia i.e., 60 to 80 per cent of pregnant women are
anemic, 19 per cent of maternal deaths are attributed to anemia.
 According to NFHS-3, about 57.9 per cent women are anemic of which
54.6
per cent are in urban areas and 59 per cent in rural areas.
 The survey also shows that the incidence of anemia in children aged 6-35
months is 79.2 per cent with 72.7 per cent in urban areas and 81.2 per
cent in rural areas. By far the most frequent cause of anemia is iron
deficiency, and less frequently folate and vitamin B12 deficiency
 Low birth
 weight
This is a major public health problem in many
developing countries.
 About 28 percent of babies born are of low birth
weight (less than 2.5 kg), as compared to about 4
percent in some developed countries.
 Maternal malnutrition and remain are mainly
responsible for this condition.
 Xerophthalmia
(nutritional blindness)
 About 0.04 per cent of total blindness in India is
attributed to nutritional deficiency of vitamin A.
 Keratomalacia has been the major cause of nutritional
blindness in children usually between 1—3 years of
age.
 Subclinical deficiency of vitamin A is also widespread and
is associated with increased morbidity and mortality from
respiratory and gastro-intestinal infections
 Iodine deficiency
 disorders
Goiter and other iodine deficiency disorders(IDD) have
been known to be highly endemic in sub-Himalayan
regions.
 Reassessment of the magnitude of the problem by the
Indian Council of Medical Research showed that the
problem I not restricted to the “goiter belt” as was thought
earlier but is extremely prevalent in other parts of India as
well.
 It has been found that out of 324 districts surveyed in 29 states
and all Uts, 263 districts are endemic i.e. where the prevalence
of IDD is more than 10 per cent.
 It is also estimated that more than 71 million people are
 OTHER
S
 Other nutritional problems of importance are lathyrism
and endemic fluorosis in certain parts of the country.
 To these must be added the widespread
adulteration of foodstuffs.
Environmental Sanitation
Problem

 The most difficult problem to tackle

in this country is perhaps the
environmental sanitation problem,
which is multifaceted and
multifactorial.
 The twin problems of environmental
sanitation are lack of safe water in
many areas of the country and
primitive methods of excreta
disposal.
 Besides these, there has been a growing concern about the
impact of "new" problems resulting from population
explosion, urbanization and industrialization leading to
hazards to human health in the air, in water and in the food
chain.
 At the United Nations Water Conference in Argentina, in 1977, it
was recommended that the priority should be given to the
provision of safe water supply and sanitation services for all.
 As of year, 2012 safe water is available to 96 per cent of the urban
and 87 per cent of the rural population; and adequate facilities
for waste disposal to 64 percent of the urban and 21 percent of
the rural population. The problem is gigantic.
 MEDICAL CARE
PROBLEMS
 The financial resources are considered inadequate to
furnish the costs of running such a service.
 The existing hospital-based, disease-oriented health
care model has provided health benefits mainly to the
urban elite.
 Approximately 80 per cent of health facilities are
concentrated in urban areas.
 Even in urban areas, there is an uneven distribution of
doctors.
 With large migrations occurring from rural to urban areas,
urban health problems have been aggravated and include
overcrowding in hospitals, inadequate staffing and scarcity
of certain essential drugs and medicines.
 The rural areas where nearly 72 per cent of the population live, do
not enjoy the benefits of the modern curative and preventive
health services.
 Many villages rely on indigenous systems of medicine. Thus, the
major medical care problem in India is in equable distribution of
available health resources between urban and rural areas, and
lack of penetration of health services to the social periphery.
 The HFA/2000 movement and the primary health care approach
which lays stress on equity, intersectoral coordination and
community participation seek to redress these imbalances.
 Population

Problem
The population problem is one of the biggest problems facing the
country, with its inevitable consequences on all aspects of development,
especially employment, education, housing, health care, sanitation and
environment.
 The country's population has already reached one billion marks by the
turn of the century.
 The Government has set a goal of 1 per cent population growth rate by
the
year 2000 (which was not attained); currently, the country-s growth rate is
1.8 per cent. This calls for the "two child family norm".
 The population size and structure represent the most important single
factor in health and manpower planning in India today where the law
of diminishing returns, among other factors, plays an important role in
SUMMARY
…