Chennai: It is not always the flawed economic policy that weakens the nation. Poor health, especially a rapid increase in chronic diseases, could cripple the nation’s economy. India stands to lose 4.84 trillion US dollars due to non-communicable diseases (NC Ds) and mental disorders by 2030, a huge sum that is double the country’s annual GDP.
As per a report of the World Economic Forum and the Harvard School of Public Health, the primary prevention of NCDs with a focused approach, if implemented, can reverse this trend with a return on investment of at least 15 per cent. The focus areas include screening in the case of hypertension; vaccination in the case of human papillomavirus (HPV) and reduced tobacco use. The impetus for the report stems from 2014 data from the World Health Organization, which shows that an estimated 60 per cent of all deaths in India is due to NCDs.
It said the most prevalent NCDs are cardiovascular disease (cause of 26 per cent of deaths in India), chronic respiratory disease (13 per cent), cancer (7 per cent) and diabetes (2 per cent). In TN, over 6,315,000 persons have been screened for hypertension and 6,50,463 persons detected positive, put on lifestyle counselling or treatment. Similarly, 5,368,269 persons have been screened for diabetes and 2,25,467 patients who were detected positive are on treatment.
