Health Blog

  Swachh Bharat Abhiyan “A clean India would be the best tribute India could pay to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150 birth anniversary in 2019,” said Shri Narendra Modi as he launched the Swachh Bharat Mission at Rajpath in New Delhi. On 2nd October 2014, Swachh Bharat Mission was launched throughout length and breadth of the country as a national movement. The campaign aims to achieve the vision of a ‘Clean India’ by 2nd October 2019. The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is the most significant cleanliness campaign by the Government of India. Shri Narendra Modi led a cleanliness pledge at India Gate, which about thirty lakh government employees across the country joined. He also flagged off a walkathon at Rajpath and surprised people by joining in not just for a token few steps, but marching with the participants for a long way. While leading the mass movement for cleanliness, the Prime Minister exhorted people to fulfil Mahatma Gandhi’s dream of a clean and hygienic India. Shri Narendra Modi himself i

Chronic Diseases Americans are living longer, but chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease and cancer are taking a growing toll on our health. Yet this leading cause of death is also one of the most preventable. Public health aims to help reduce people's risk factors by promoting physical activity, improving access to healthy, affordable foods and expanding science-based ways to kick the tobacco habit. Healthy community design is one proven strategy to help prevent chronic disease. APHA supported the Partnerships to Improve Community Health, a three-year CDC initiative focusing on evidence-based strategies to improve the health of communities and reduce the prevalence of chronic disease. APHA worked with the American Planning Association to support and implement the  Plan4Health project  (funded through PICH). APHA Affiliates collaborated with APA Chapters to address physical activity and nutritious eating at the local level – the nontraditional, cross-sector partnership is he

  Non-Communicable Disease Noncommunicable diseases:  tend to be of long duration and are the result of a combination of genetic, physiological, environmental and behavioural factors.    Types of Noncommunicable Diseases: Cardiovascular Disease (Heart attack and stroke),  Cancer Chronic respiratory diseases (such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma)  Diabetes Chronic Diseases:  conditions that last over a year and require ongoing medical attention and/or limit activities of daily living. Noncommunicable diseases are rising substantially, placing a significant strain on health systems which will result in catastrophically high healthcare expenditures in the future. 5  The greatest contributor to non communicable diseases in recent times is our sedentary lifestyles that has significantly increased especially over the course of the COVID19 pandemic. Work, school and gym closures have forced people to stay at home decreasing their physical activity levels. Sedentary behavio

Communicable Diseases Infectious diseases or communicable diseases   are one of the leading causes of death worldwide. These diseases are spread by pathogenic microorganisms, such as bacteria, viruses, parasites, or fungi. Infectious diseases possess greater risk as these diseases can easily transfer from human to human or by other modes. Generally, people with low immunity, infants, and the elderly population are at greater risk of getting an infectious disease.  The mode of transmission can be divided into two parts, namely direct and indirect transmission. Direct transmission occurs through direct contact with sick individuals, animal to person, or from mother to newborn child. In some cases, the transmission may also occur through sexual contact. While in the indirect method, transmission from contaminated water, food, or by Insect bites occur. As per the WHO, “Infectious diseases kill over 17 million people a year”.  Over the past 20 years, around 30 new infectious diseases have b

  Public Health in India: Issues & Challenges Public health in India exhibits a peculiar trend. There is a serious gap in health infrastructure on the one hand and a double burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases on the other. In spite of a compound annual growth rate of 15% in the healthcare industry,  public health in India  is full of paradoxes and challenges that seem to be insurmountable on the face of it. Statistics suggest that India has only 1.5 hospital beds per 1000 population. Ironically, health tourism is also on the rise with people from U.S and U.K coming to India because of the relatively low cost of treatment. Again, when we look at certain indicators, health in India seems to be in a state of progress. Life expectancy at birth, for example, has increased from 48.8 years in 1970 to 64.8 years in 2009. However, there is an increasing incidence of deaths from chronic non-communicable diseases , or lifestyle diseases as they are popularly known, among peop

  Major Rural Health Issues India lives in its villages. All of us were taught that in school. What we weren’t taught was that much of India does not live very happily. We often see idyllic pictures of rural Indian life– stunningly beautiful images of rice fields rippling in the wind and children swinging from Banyan trees in the village square. However, the harsh reality is that one third of those men and women working in the fields are chronically starved and one half of those children swinging from the trees are permanently stunted from undernutrition. One out of every ten babies born never makes it to its first birthday. India, home to one-sixth of mankind, is also home to one-third of all tuberculosis patients in the world. More than 300,000 children drop out of school every year because someone in their family comes down with tuberculosis and an extra income is needed to make ends meet. In fact, 25% of families of hospitalised individuals in Bilaspur fall below the poverty line d