Many non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are diagnosed in outpatient clinics and hospitals when patients present with acute illnesses. After receiving a diagnosis during the healthcare visit, the chronic management of most NCDs needs compliance with treatment and monitoring of disease process. In the absence of good community models, the outcomes of most NCD control programmes can […]
Category: South Asia
Kaaren Mathias: The lack of access to anti-epileptic drugs in rural India
“He says that anti-seizure medications can have serious side effects. That’s why they can’t be stocked in our community health centre,” reports Jeevan, after returning from meeting the medical officer in charge at a nearby community health centre. “The block medical officer told me that anti-seizure drugs could be dangerous in the hands of MBBS […]
Arun Jithendra on reducing tobacco production in India
India is the third largest tobacco producer and exporter of tobacco globally. Flue Cured Virginia (FCV) tobacco, which is used in the manufacturing of cigarettes, is one of the main varieties of tobacco grown in the country. Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are the largest FCV tobacco growing regions. Fifty percent of FCV that is grown is […]
Meena P: A lack of resources for community health nursing in India
With a shortage of doctors, it is the nurses and other allied health professionals who run the show in many of the primary healthcare settings in India. Nurses make up a major proportion of the health workforce. In this context we need more and more nurses who are capable of addressing the diverse healthcare needs of […]
Bheemaray Manganavar: Managing hypertension and diabetes in resource poor settings
According to the Diabetes Atlas 2006, the number of people with diabetes in India is currently around 40.9 million and is expected to rise to 69.9 million by 2025. Similarly, 118 million people were estimated to have high blood pressure in the year 2000, which is expected to go up to 213 million in 2025. […]
Arun Jithendra: Pan masala—a way for the tobacco industry to bypass the gutkha ban?
Gutkha, a chewing tobacco product responsible for oral cancer and several other negative health effects, has been banned in 26 states and six union territories in India since 2011. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) issued the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restrictions on Sales) Regulations in 2011 (2.3.4). This prohibits […]
Mosaraf Hossain on improving health outcomes in Goalpokher-I
The Islampur sub-division of the Uttar Dinajpur district of West Bengal (a state in India) is the most underperforming area of the state in terms of health and other human development indicators. This sub-division has five blocks, and among these five blocks, Goalpokher-I is the least developed. Goalpokher-I lies between Bangladesh to the east and […]
Ajith J: How school based health services can improve child health in India
School children constitute over 25% of India’s population of 1.21 billion people. School health in India is limited to sporadic screening in public schools. Private schools, where 30 million urban children (66%) go, are ignored. There are 197,541 schools in urban India, mostly catering to low and middle income groups. School aged children in urban […]
Jocalyn Clark: World Association of Medical Editors’ first conference—an international affair
For its first ever conference, the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) chose New Delhi, India as the inaugural location—a reflection of the global nature of medical science and publishing, and to emphasise the organisation’s growing commitment to global health. Over three days this past week, 220 delegates from 17 countries learned about professionalism and […]
Shreelata Rao Seshadri: From MDGs to SDGs—do global goals contribute to health equity?
The era of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) came to an end on 8 September 2015, and a new era in global milestones have been launched with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In India, most of the MDG targets were not achieved; and this raises the question: what role do such goals play in achieving better […]