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India in healthcare hall of shame, ranked worst among peers and neighbours
NEW DELHI: Among peers and neighbours India is performing the worst when it comes to the health of its citizens. Whether it is life expectancy, mortality due to all causes, under-five mortality or mortality among men and women between 15 and 49 years, on most counts, India ranks way below China, Brazil and Sri Lanka, just below Bangladesh and Nepal and in some cases even Pakistan.
This was revealed in the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors 2010 Study (GBD 2010), a collaborative project led by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington. The study details the causes of death and disability across age groups and genders for 187 countries around the world.
Sri Lanka and China fight for the top spot in India's neighbourhood on most parameters followed by Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal. India and Pakistan figure at the bottom with India often beating Pakistan in the race to the bottom, even if marginally so.
"Countries like China and Brazil and even our neighbours, who are not as well off, doing well show that India should be able to do a lot better. We are in this situation probably because we only pay lip service to health service and health system development. Our public expenditure on health is among the lowest in the world," said Lalit Dandona, research professor, Public Health Foundation of India and professor of global health at IHME.
In India, the top killer in 1990, diarrhoeal diseases, was replaced by ischemic heart disease by 2010. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) held second position through the two decades. However, lower respiratory infections were displaced by stroke by 2010 as the third most common cause of mortality. Diarrhoeal diseases moved to the fourth place followed by TB which continued at fifth place.
For the entire developed world, in fact, for most of the world barring the poorer countries, the biggest killers were ischemic heart disease or stroke. For the poorer countries by 2010, the biggest killers were lower respiratory diseases, malaria and HIV. In the 15-49 age group, i.e. barring children and elderly, suicide and TB were the biggest killers for South Asia while road accidents replaced suicide in the same age group by 2010 in China. In the developed world, suicide and road injury followed by ischemic heart disease seemed to be the biggest killers in this age group. In large swathes of Africa, HIV/AIDS was the biggest killer for the 15-49 age group.
In India, "road injury" is the leading killer of men in the 15-49 age group while suicides are the biggest cause of death among women in this age group. Among children in the under-five age group, preterm birth complications was the leading cause of death in India in 2010 replacing diarrhoeal disease, the top killer of 1990. Preterm complications are the biggest killers in most of the developed world too along with congenital anomalies.
Lower respiratory infections, malaria and diarrhoeal diseases were the biggest killers in most of the lesser developed countries. Interestingly, the biggest risk factors for Indians were dietary risks, high blood pressure, household air pollution and tobacco smoking, including passive smoking.
Dandona pointed out that it was not possible to ignore the fact that shift towards poor quality high-fat food was causing immense damage. "We will suffer as a society if we do not regulate Big Food as the companies selling beverages, snacks etc are called. Tobacco might be a clear killer but this is more insidious and many of us public health experts think we need to be smarter about how these unhealthy foods are allowed into our society," concluded Dandona.
India in healthcare hall of shame, ranked worst among peers and neighbours - Times Of India
NEW DELHI: Among peers and neighbours India is performing the worst when it comes to the health of its citizens. Whether it is life expectancy, mortality due to all causes, under-five mortality or mortality among men and women between 15 and 49 years, on most counts, India ranks way below China, Brazil and Sri Lanka, just below Bangladesh and Nepal and in some cases even Pakistan.
This was revealed in the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors 2010 Study (GBD 2010), a collaborative project led by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington. The study details the causes of death and disability across age groups and genders for 187 countries around the world.
Sri Lanka and China fight for the top spot in India's neighbourhood on most parameters followed by Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal. India and Pakistan figure at the bottom with India often beating Pakistan in the race to the bottom, even if marginally so.
"Countries like China and Brazil and even our neighbours, who are not as well off, doing well show that India should be able to do a lot better. We are in this situation probably because we only pay lip service to health service and health system development. Our public expenditure on health is among the lowest in the world," said Lalit Dandona, research professor, Public Health Foundation of India and professor of global health at IHME.
In India, the top killer in 1990, diarrhoeal diseases, was replaced by ischemic heart disease by 2010. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) held second position through the two decades. However, lower respiratory infections were displaced by stroke by 2010 as the third most common cause of mortality. Diarrhoeal diseases moved to the fourth place followed by TB which continued at fifth place.
For the entire developed world, in fact, for most of the world barring the poorer countries, the biggest killers were ischemic heart disease or stroke. For the poorer countries by 2010, the biggest killers were lower respiratory diseases, malaria and HIV. In the 15-49 age group, i.e. barring children and elderly, suicide and TB were the biggest killers for South Asia while road accidents replaced suicide in the same age group by 2010 in China. In the developed world, suicide and road injury followed by ischemic heart disease seemed to be the biggest killers in this age group. In large swathes of Africa, HIV/AIDS was the biggest killer for the 15-49 age group.
In India, "road injury" is the leading killer of men in the 15-49 age group while suicides are the biggest cause of death among women in this age group. Among children in the under-five age group, preterm birth complications was the leading cause of death in India in 2010 replacing diarrhoeal disease, the top killer of 1990. Preterm complications are the biggest killers in most of the developed world too along with congenital anomalies.
Lower respiratory infections, malaria and diarrhoeal diseases were the biggest killers in most of the lesser developed countries. Interestingly, the biggest risk factors for Indians were dietary risks, high blood pressure, household air pollution and tobacco smoking, including passive smoking.
Dandona pointed out that it was not possible to ignore the fact that shift towards poor quality high-fat food was causing immense damage. "We will suffer as a society if we do not regulate Big Food as the companies selling beverages, snacks etc are called. Tobacco might be a clear killer but this is more insidious and many of us public health experts think we need to be smarter about how these unhealthy foods are allowed into our society," concluded Dandona.
India in healthcare hall of shame, ranked worst among peers and neighbours - Times Of India
