Preventive healthcare against modern lifestyle diseases
   Date :07-Apr-2019

 
 
By Prof Dr Arvind Neral:
 
Health is both a resource for, as well as an outcome of sustainable development. The goals of sustainable development cannot be achieved when there is a high prevalence of debilitating illness and poverty, and the health of a population cannot be maintained without a responsive health system and a healthy environment. Environmental degradation, mismanagement of natural resources, unhealthy consumption patterns and faulty lifestyles impact health. Ill health, in turn, hampers poverty alleviation and economic development. It is ironical that good health is often taken for granted and is neglected as compared to other needs.
 
The value of a healthy life is usually understood only when it is lost. People visit their doctors only when they are sick or injured, but rarely do they go for a preventive health care check-up. In India sick care has been the focus for a long time. Emphasis on preventive care had been on a lower priority not just out of negligence but also because of the burden of communicable diseases like TC, Leprosy, Vector Borne diseases, HIV/AIDS etc. Scenario is now changing as we move towards 2020. In future, communicable diseases are expected to decline and the emergence of non-communicable diseases is new threats that have to be dealt with.
 
This need for preventive versus curative healthcare is partly attributed to the changing corporate environment in India. In recent times, with greater globalization and urbanization there is a greater amount of stress - a part of everyday life. Deadlines need to be met, long hours at the office, rapidly changing technology affect how we work, and interpersonal conflicts are just some of the stresses coped with daily,. This ultimately is leading to adverse lifestyle choices. Obesity is increasing, physical activity is declining and tobacco-alcohol use is a substantial problem in the country. The ongoing nutritional transition expressed through increased consumption of high fat and high salt food products is contributing to the rising burden of heart disease, stroke, obesity and diabetes. Change in activity pattern as a consequence of the rise of motorized transport, sedentary leisure time activities such as television watching that lead to physical inactivity in all populations.
 
According to a survey done by National Commission on Macroeconomics & Health, it has been found that almost a quarter of the companies lose approximately 14% of their annual working days (more than 51 days in a year) due to sickness, and one can expect an equal percentage of loss in their productivity and profits which is a cause of great concern. This corresponds with the fact that over 1 percent of the firms recorded sick leave for more than 20 percent their employees. Furthermore this absenteeism was mainly owing to acute diseases like diarrhea, malaria and dengue, followed by lifestyle diseases like cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, stroke and mental disorders. This further supports findings of the Health and Wellness Survey conducted by Apollo Hospitals Group.
 
They found that more than half of the executives were prone to lifestyle diseases like cardiac risk, followed by high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes. In fact, they had found that 71 percent of the employees and 82 percent of the CEOs were overweight. Cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, diabetes, and cancer are emerging as major public health problems in India. Surveys in India reveal that about 20% of adults suffer from hypertension. The increase in cardiovascular disease prevalence and mortality rates is expected to continue in the coming years. The numbers of deaths due to Ischemic Heart Diseases in India has increased substantially.
 
The premature morbidity and mortality in the most productive phase of life is posing a serious challenge to Indian society and its economy, projected to be the leading cause of disability by the year 2020, and if not successfully prevented and managed, they will become the most expensive problems faced by our health care systems. The need of the hour is clearly to strengthen preventive and public health systems to obtain best value for the money spent, reduce the disease burden and promote overall health. It's an irony that maximum number of medical college are in India, we boast of providing the best of doctors in the world, the best of healthcare facilities are available here, people from all over the world flock to our country as our medical tourism boom, and yet we find ourselves ignorant towards health. It requires a tremendous change in our mindsets from viewing health as investment rather than dead loss.
 
 
As rightly put in by Amartya Sen -- “Growth in national income by itself is not enough, if the benefits do not manifest themselves in the form of more food, better access to health and education.” Preventive health care is thus the answer to the problem. A majority of costly and disabling conditions can be prevented with proper intervention and many of their complications can be avoided or at least delayed. The awareness and inclination about investing in preventive healthcare should be increased. There has to be a paradigm shift in the mindset of people to encourage preventive healthcare in their lives. Our present healthcare system should focus on strategies that can help citizens in not just being healthier but also in being more productive and give a win-win chance to India to compete globally. We need to initiate change - large or small, that would experience benefits and create the foundation for healthier Indian. (The writer is HOD Microbiology in Pt. JNM Medical College, Raipur)