India

7. TRENDS IN HEALTH STATUS

Burden of Disease - WHO/HQ

7.1 Life expectancy

Life expectancy at birth has increased for male and female in India. It is 64.1 years for males and 65.8 years for females (2005). This has revealed the decrease in death rate and the better improvement of quantity and quality health services in India. However, there are inter-state, inter-district and rural-urban differences in life expectancy at birth due to low literacy, differential income levels and socio¬economic conditions and beliefs. In Kerala, a person at birth is expected to live for 73 years while in states like Bihar, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, etc, the expectancy is in the range of 55-60 years.

Healthy life expectancy at birth in India was estimated to be 53.5 in 2002. This was 53.3 for males and 53.6 for females (WHO, World Health Report 2005).

Related Links

     Life Expectancy – WHO/HQ

     WHO/HQ

7.2 Mortality

The incidence or prevalence of the diseases or conditions, as well as issues related to etiology, prevention efforts, prognosis and possibilities for control or elimination – this could also be derived from country burden of disease estimates, and condition specific indicators.

The infant mortality rate has declined in India from 70 infants per 1000 live births in 1999 (SRS) to 57 in 2005-06 per 1000 live births. Under-five mortality rate per 1000 live births is 85 in 2002. According to MMR-RG, maternal mortality ratio per 100,000 live births is 301 in 2001-03.

A diverse set of factors are thought to be associated with maternal mortality: factors that influence delays in deciding to seek medical care, in reaching a place where care is available, and in receiving appropriate care. The tenth plan document of India has targeted to reduce the IMR to 45 per 1000 live births by 2007 and 28 per 1000 live births by 2012. The main causes of high MMR being socio­economic status of women, inadequate antenatal care, the low proportion of institutional deliveries, and the non-availability of skilled birth attendants in two-thirds of cases.

A World Health Report (1999) gives the main causes of mortality in India as non­-communicable diseases (48 percent), communicable diseases (42 percent) and injuries (10 percent). The dominant communicable diseases are infectious and parasitic diseases, respiratory diseases, maternal conditions, perinatal conditions and nutritional deficiencies. Non-communicable diseases are malignant neoplasm, diabetes mellitus, neuropsychiatric disorders, sense organ disorders, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, digestive diseases, musculo-skeletal diseases, congenital anomalies, oral diseases and other non-communicable diseases.

Related Links

     Health statistics and health information systems: Mortality Data - WHO/HQ

7.3 Morbidity

NFHS-II conducted a study on four major diseases prevailing in India, i.e., asthma, tuberculosis, jaundice, malaria. In India around 2,468 persons per 100,000 populations were reported to be suffering from asthma at the time of survey. The prevalence of asthma is high in rural areas than in urban areas and is slightly higher in males than in females. The overall prevalence of tuberculosis in India is 544 per 100,000 populations. This is 16 percent higher than the survey done by NFHS-I (467 per 100,000). It is more in case of rural areas than in urban areas and more for male than females. It is more in males because of males are in contact with more people who might have TB and smoking is more in men. The prevalence of TB increases with age. Jaundice cases were reported to be 1361 persons per 100,000 populations. This is more prevalent in rural areas than in urban areas. However, it decreases with age. Thus, highest numbers of jaundice patients are in the age of 0-14. 3,697 persons per 100,000 populations were reported to have suffered from malaria. People of rural area suffer twice than that of urban area and it is slightly high for males than for females. All these diseases however vary and differ from state to state depending on the climate and geographical locations of the areas.

7.4 Disability

A survey by the National Sample Survey Organization 1991 estimates that around 1.9 percent of population are disabled in India. Other estimates suggest that between 6 and 10 percent of the population in any developing country is affected by disability, which means 60-100 million Indians are affected by disability.  Four to 14 million people are blind, 3.2 million people with hearing impairment, over 16 million people are affected by locomotor disabilities and 3 percent of India's children are mentally retarded. The government of India has policies related for the disabled, rehabilitation schemes, grant-­in-aid schemes and schemes run through NGOs.

According to ICMR (Indian council of Medical Research), cataract is the main cause of 55 percent of blindness. The major causes of blindness as seen in the survey conducted by the National Programme for Control of Blindness (NCB), included cataract_, refractive errors, corneal opacities, glaucoma, trachoma and vitamin A deficiency. 

Related Links

     Disability and Rehab - WHO/SEARO

     Disabilities – WHO/HQ

     NFHS-I - India

     NFHS-II - India

     NFHS-III - India

     National Program for Blindness - India

8. Basic Health Indicators including the U.N. Millennium Development Goals

Related Links

     MDGs

See Annex -1.