Inequities in Health Outcomes:
While acknowledging these achievements we need to be mindful and confront the high degree
of health inequity in health outcomes and access to health care services as evidenced by
indicators disaggregated for vulnerable groups. There are urban-rural inequities and there are 5
inequities across states. (Table 1). A number of districts, many in tribal areas, perform poorly
even in those states where overall averages are improving. Marginalized communities and
poorer economic quintiles of the population continue to fare poorly. Outreach and service
delivery for the urban poor, even for immunization services has been inadequate.
Table 1 : Disparities in health outcomes:
Indicator India
Total Rural Urban % differential
TFR (2012) 2.4 2.6 1.8 44% difference
IMR (2012) 40 44 27 63% difference
Concerns on Quality of Care:
The situation in quality of care is also a matter of serious concern and this seriously
compromises the effectiveness of care. For example though over 90% of pregnant women
receive one antenatal check up and 87 % received full TT immunization, only about 68.7 % of
women have received the mandatory three antenatal check-ups. Again whereas most women had
received iron and folic acid tablets, only 31% of pregnant women had consumed more than 100
IFA tablets. For institutional delivery standard protocols are often not followed during labour
and the postpartum period. Sterilization related deaths a preventable tragedy, are often a direct
consequence of poor quality of care. Only 61% of children (12 -23 months) have been fully
immunized. There are gaps in access to safe abortion services too, and in care for the sick
neonate.
2.5. Performance in Disease Control Programmes:
India‟s progress on communicable disease control is mixed. The most acclaimed success of
this period is the complete elimination of polio. In Leprosy too there have been significant
reductions, but after a reduction of an annual incidence of 120,000 cases, there is stagnation,
with new infective cases and disabilities being reported. Kala-azar and Lymphatic filariasis are
expected to decline below the threshold for certifying by 2015, but as in leprosy there are likely
to be Blocks where the prevalence is above this threshold. In many more Blocks, which have achieved elimination, continuing attention to identifying and managing low levels of disease
incidence is required for some time to come. In AIDS control, progress has been good with a
decline from a 0.41 % prevalence rate in 2001 to 0.27% in 2011- but this still leaves about 21
lakh persons living with HIV, with about 1.16 lakh new cases and 1.48 deaths in 2011. In
tuberculosis the challenge is a prevalence of close to 211 cases and 19 deaths per 100,000
population and rising problems of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis. Though these are
significant declines from the MDG baseline, India still contributes to 24% of all global new
case detection. In malaria there has been a significant decline, but there are also the challenges,
of resistant strains developing and of sustaining the gains, in a disease known for its cyclical
reemergence and focal outbreaks. Viral Encephalitis, Dengue and Chikungunya are on the
increase, particularly in urban areas and as of now we do not have effective measures to address
them. Performance in disease control programmes is largely a function and reflection of the
strengths of the public health systems. Where there are sub-critical human resource
deployment, weak logistics and inadequate infrastructure, all national health programmes do
badly. This was one of the important reasons of the launch of the National Rural Health
Mission, which was geared to strengthen health systems.
While acknowledging these achievements we need to be mindful and confront the high degree
of health inequity in health outcomes and access to health care services as evidenced by
indicators disaggregated for vulnerable groups. There are urban-rural inequities and there are 5
inequities across states. (Table 1). A number of districts, many in tribal areas, perform poorly
even in those states where overall averages are improving. Marginalized communities and
poorer economic quintiles of the population continue to fare poorly. Outreach and service
delivery for the urban poor, even for immunization services has been inadequate.
Table 1 : Disparities in health outcomes:
Indicator India
Total Rural Urban % differential
TFR (2012) 2.4 2.6 1.8 44% difference
IMR (2012) 40 44 27 63% difference
Concerns on Quality of Care:
The situation in quality of care is also a matter of serious concern and this seriously
compromises the effectiveness of care. For example though over 90% of pregnant women
receive one antenatal check up and 87 % received full TT immunization, only about 68.7 % of
women have received the mandatory three antenatal check-ups. Again whereas most women had
received iron and folic acid tablets, only 31% of pregnant women had consumed more than 100
IFA tablets. For institutional delivery standard protocols are often not followed during labour
and the postpartum period. Sterilization related deaths a preventable tragedy, are often a direct
consequence of poor quality of care. Only 61% of children (12 -23 months) have been fully
immunized. There are gaps in access to safe abortion services too, and in care for the sick
neonate.
2.5. Performance in Disease Control Programmes:
India‟s progress on communicable disease control is mixed. The most acclaimed success of
this period is the complete elimination of polio. In Leprosy too there have been significant
reductions, but after a reduction of an annual incidence of 120,000 cases, there is stagnation,
with new infective cases and disabilities being reported. Kala-azar and Lymphatic filariasis are
expected to decline below the threshold for certifying by 2015, but as in leprosy there are likely
to be Blocks where the prevalence is above this threshold. In many more Blocks, which have achieved elimination, continuing attention to identifying and managing low levels of disease
incidence is required for some time to come. In AIDS control, progress has been good with a
decline from a 0.41 % prevalence rate in 2001 to 0.27% in 2011- but this still leaves about 21
lakh persons living with HIV, with about 1.16 lakh new cases and 1.48 deaths in 2011. In
tuberculosis the challenge is a prevalence of close to 211 cases and 19 deaths per 100,000
population and rising problems of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis. Though these are
significant declines from the MDG baseline, India still contributes to 24% of all global new
case detection. In malaria there has been a significant decline, but there are also the challenges,
of resistant strains developing and of sustaining the gains, in a disease known for its cyclical
reemergence and focal outbreaks. Viral Encephalitis, Dengue and Chikungunya are on the
increase, particularly in urban areas and as of now we do not have effective measures to address
them. Performance in disease control programmes is largely a function and reflection of the
strengths of the public health systems. Where there are sub-critical human resource
deployment, weak logistics and inadequate infrastructure, all national health programmes do
badly. This was one of the important reasons of the launch of the National Rural Health
Mission, which was geared to strengthen health systems.
No comments:
Post a Comment