First National Health Policy was passed by the Parliament of India in 1983 and was last updated in 2002. How much of the policy intent has seen the light of the day is anybody’s guess.

Even after six decades of independence only one in three Indians has access to basic sanitation facility like toilets, exposing a large number of population to various types of ailments. World Health Organization (WHO) reports that around 9 lakh Indians die every year breathing polluted air and drinking contaminated water. Maternal mortality rate is the highest in India. Almost half of the children in our country are grossly underweight and this phenomenon is growing at a rate which is nearly double the rate of even Sub-Saharan Africa. One third of the world’s tuberculosis patients live in India. It is indeed an irony that even today India belongs to one of those four countries of the world where polio has not been successfully eradicated, as yet.

Increasing incidences of chronic ailments are exerting further pressure on the disease burden:

Along with diseases originating due to poor hygienic conditions and life style, new challenges are coming up with rapid emergence of non-infectious chronic diseases like, diabetic, cardiovascular and psychosomatic disorders.

Chronic diseases could soon become the most critical issue in the Indian healthcare system, if these are not prevented and successfully managed. It has been reported that population suffering from, for example, diabetes could generate health care costs which are almost double of those without this ailment.

All these factors together are leading to an abnormally high disease burden in the country where very unfortunately over 65% of the population are not having access to modern medicines, either due to lack of infrastructural facilities or the people just cannot afford the basic costs of healthcare.

Most of the diseases are preventable:

Many of these chronic ailments ascribe to common preventable risk factors. Poor hygienic conditions, unhealthy nutrition, lack of proper physical activity, alcohol and tobacco abuse are the major risk factors for these diseases. An integrated approach towards disease prevention, though challenging for the nation, is the need of the hour. It is a pity that our healthcare systems do not support this process. India as a whole carries an abysmally poor track record for a well thought out and structured healthcare promotion and disease prevention policies and strategies.

Indian healthcare system is highly skewed towards disease treatment rather than disease prevention:

Current healthcare systems of India, which offer access to modern medicines just to 35% of the population, are aimed mostly towards responding to urgent needs of patients.

Relieving symptoms of the disease with an expectation of curing the ailment are the basic pattern of healthcare in our country, wherever it is available and in whatever scales and proportion. Preventive health care is quite different from the above approach.

Australia has shown a way:

Australian National Health and Hospitals Reforms Commission report titled, “A healthier future for all Australians”, published in July 2009 recommends the establishment of an independent National Health Promotion and Prevention Agency, with a significant budget for creating a robust evidence base to find out what exactly works in prevention of a disease. Like for example , the report highlights “comparison of the relative efficacy of a medical intervention (gastric bypass), a pharmaceutical intervention (an anti-obesity drug), an allied health intervention (an exercise and diet program) and a population health intervention ( a community walking program) in reducing obesity.”

The report clearly articulates that just collecting evidence on prevention will not be enough; disease prevention should be put on the same footing as the treatment of the disease.

Are we listening?

The way forward in India:

As many diseases are preventable, every interaction with a healthcare professional should include advice and follow-up on the preventive measures. When with an integrated and systematic approach, patients will be provided with information and practices to reduce health risks, it is quite likely that they will then try to maintain a healthy and hygienic life style with regular exercise, drinking safe water, eating healthy food which they can afford, practicing safe sex, avoiding tobacco and alcohol abuse.

Such integrated and systematic preventive healthcare measures can significantly help reducing the disease burden of individuals and families, besides improving vastly the quality of life. To promote prevention in healthcare, the very basic requirement is the change in mindset of both the policy makers and the civil society. A collaborative or partnership approach involving all concerned to create mass awareness is absolutely essential to ensure commitment of the common man towards such an important healthcare initiative.

Important areas for action:

• Effective use of persuasive communication tools to establish that preventive health care can help avoiding expensive disease burden and improve quality of life

• Mass awareness and demonstration program to help creating a positive attitude and required skill sets in disease prevention activities within the community

• Motivate healthcare professionals to make prevention an integral part of every interaction with the patients

• Medical insurance and healthcare policies to offer adequate incentives for preventive healthcare through innovative means

What the government of India is doing towards preventive healthcare:

The Planning Commission of India reports as follows:

• Health education for primary and secondary prevention of Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) through mobilization of community action

• Development of treatment protocols for education and training of physicians in the prevention and management of NCDs

• Research support for: Multi-sectoral population-based interventions to reduce risk factors

• Explanation of the role of nutrition and lifestyle-related factors

• The development of cost effective interventions at each level of care.

All these are very appreciable statements of intent. However, how much of these intents are getting translated into reality will be very difficult fathom by the common mortals.

Conclusions:

Most of the serious types of ailments of a vast majority of the population of India can be prevented and the disease related complications can be effectively avoided, if we all have a will to do that. Can we take a leaf out of the formation of “National Health Promotion and Prevention Agency” in Australia?

Healthcare costs of the nation and utilization of its scarce resource can be successfully optimized by properly focusing on disease prevention related activities. In my view, effective measures towards preventive healthcare can quite efficiently address many pressing healthcare issues of the nation.

By Tapan Ray

Disclaimer: The views/opinions expressed in this article are entirely my own, written in my individual and personal capacity. I do not represent any other person or organization for this opinion.