Chronic diseases and injuries in India

Patel, V and Chatterji, S and Chisholm, D and Ebrahim, S and Gopalakrishna, G and Mathers, C and Mohan, V and Prabhakaran, D and Ravindran, R D and Reddy, K S (2011) Chronic diseases and injuries in India. The Lancet, 377 (9763). p. 413. ISSN 01406736

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Abstract

Chronic diseases (eg, cardiovascular diseases, mental health disorders, diabetes, and cancer) and injuries are the leading causes of death and disability in India, and we project pronounced increases in their contribution to the burden of disease during the next 25 years. Most chronic diseases are equally prevalent in poor and rural populations and often occur together. Although a wide range of cost-eff ective primary and secondary prevention strategies are available, their coverage is generally low, especially in poor and rural populations. Much of the care for chronic diseases and injuries is provided in the private sector and can be very expensive. Suffi cient evidence exists to warrant immediate action to scale up interventions for chronic diseases and injuries through private and public sectors; improved public health and primary health-care systems are essential for the implementation of cost-eff ective interventions. We strongly advocate the need to strengthen social and policy frameworks to enable the implementation of interventions such as taxation on bidis (small hand-rolled cigarettes), smokeless tobacco, and locally brewed alcohols. We also advocate the integration of national programmes for various chronic diseases and injuries with one another and with national health agendas. India has already passed the early stages of a chronic disease and injury epidemic; in view of the implications for future disease burden and the demographic transition that is in progress in India, the rate at which eff ective prevention and control is implemented should be substantially increased. The emerging agenda of chronic diseases and injuries should be a political priority and central to national consciousness, if universal health care is to be achieved.

Item Type:Article
Official URL/DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(10)61188-9
Uncontrolled Keywords:Chronic diseases; cardiovascular; respiratory diseases; mental disorders; diabetes; cancers
Subjects:Diabetes Clinical Trials
Diabetes Epidemiology
Diabetology > Cardiovascular Diabetology
Diabetes
Divisions:Department of Epidemiology
Department of Diabetology
Department of Clinical Trials
ID Code:582
Deposited By:INVALID USER
Deposited On:23 Jun 2011 10:54
Last Modified:23 Jun 2011 10:54

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