Health in India
India is a hub for pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries; world-class scientists, clinical trials and hospitals yet country faces daunting public health challenges like child undernutrition, high rates of neonatal and maternal mortality, growth in noncommunicable diseases, high rates of road traffic accidents and other health related issues.
[5] A demographic study found that, compared to 2019, life expectancy at birth was 2.6 years lower and mortality was 17% higher in 2020, implying 1.19 million excess deaths in 2020.
[6] The study also found, in contrast to global patterns, females in India experienced a life expectancy decline that was 1 year larger than losses for males.
Squamous cell carcinoma is the most common form of oral cancer in India and primarily affects middle age population (31–50 years).
[10] Risk factors for all kind of dental diseases include; high dietary sugar, areca nut, alcohol and tobacco (gutkha, khaini, mawa, etc.)
Reasons for this gap, 1) unequal distribution of dentists in urban (70%) and rural (30%) areas, 2) 90% services provided by private practitioners and only 10% through the government settings, and 3) Negligeable % of insurance coverage for dental treatments.
[18] A child without sufficient nutrients in its daily intake is not only exposed to physical and motor growth delays, but also to heightened risk of mortality, reduced immune defenses and decreased cognitive and learning capacities.
Inadequate care of these women already underdeveloped, especially during pregnancy, leads them in turn to deliver underweight babies who are vulnerable to further malnutrition and disease.
Fast-food is among one of India's largest growing markets, especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic where it saw tremendous growth due to the speed of service and no-contact model.
Ever since McDonalds entered India in 1996, numerous fast food chains have followed suit including Dominos, Pizza Hut, Burger King, and KFC.
Diseases such as dengue fever, hepatitis, tuberculosis, malaria and pneumonia continue to plague India due to increased resistance to drugs.
[22] India is the highest TB burden country in the world in terms of absolute number of incident cases that occur each year.
A major scale-up of malaria responses will not only help countries reach the health-related targets for 2030, but will contribute to poverty reduction and other development goals.
This may be attributed to a genetic predisposition to metabolic syndrome and adverse changes in coronary artery vasodilation.The burden of the Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) in India with a population of the over 1.3 billion is huge.
In the same year Ischemic heart disease accounted for highest mortality followed by COPD, Stroke and Diabetes among all NCD related deaths.
While life expectancy has increased it is the number of years lost due to ill-health, disability or early death (DALY) rate that is almost doubled.
[36] Despite health improvements over the last thirty years, lives continue to be lost to early childhood diseases, inadequate newborn care and childbirth-related causes.
[42] Shortages of healthcare providers, poor intrapartum and newborn care, diarrheal diseases and acute respiratory infections also contribute to the high infant mortality rate.
[43] A huge portion of Indian Population lacked access to toilets prior to the 2014, and open defecation on roads and railway tracks were very common.
[44] Several million more have multiple episodes of diarrhea and still others fall ill on account of Hepatitis A, enteric fever, intestinal worms and eye and skin infections caused by poor hygiene and unsafe drinking water.
[43] A major issue for women in India is that few have access to skilled birth attendants and fewer still to quality emergency obstetric care.
[48] Health issues confronted by rural people are many and diverse – from severe malaria to uncontrolled diabetes, from a badly infected wound to cancer.
[53] Analysis of National Family Health Survey Data for 2005–06 (the most recent available dataset for analysis) shows that within India's urban population – the under-five mortality rate for the poorest quartile eight states, the highest under-five mortality rate in the poorest quartile occurred in UttarPradesh (110 per 1,000 live births), India's most populous state, which had 44.4 million urban dwellers in the 2011 census[54] followed by Rajasthan (102), Madhya Pradesh (98), Jharkhand (90) and Bihar (85), Delhi (74), and Maharashtra (50).
[55] High levels of stunted growth and underweight issues among the urban poor in India points to repeated infections, depleting the child's nutritional reserves, owing to sub-optimal physical environment.
[56] The Indian government has implemented several initiatives over the past few decades to boost healthcare opportunities and access in both rural areas and urban slums.
[60] Factors like fear of consequence, gender, individual agency, and overall socioeconomic environment have an effect on the ability and willingness of patients to seek healthcare resources.
After an initiative involving conversations between health experts and slum households, a significant number of residents turned to public facilities rather than private hospitals to receive effective treatment at no cost.
[63] Organizations have implemented a similar method of health education within urban schools to combat nutritional deficiency and malnutrition among children.
[64] Through use of informational videos and posters and curriculum changes, all implemented within a school setting, adolescents had an increased awareness of their nutritional needs and the resources they could utilize.
[67] The majority of India's private, for-profit hospitals charge exorbitant costs for medical services and supplies, which has put a strain on the country's public finances.
