Awareness campaign on non-communicable diseases launched

A youth signature campaign was launched in the capital on Thursday to create awareness on non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

Non-communicable diseases include diabetes, cancer, stroke, mental health disorders, heart and chronic respiratory diseases.

The campaign will sensitise about NCDs and bring together youth from over 300 schools and 20 colleges across Delhi and an online petition would also be hosted.

'Youth involvement is critical for the success of any movement. The youth will urge the government to call for concerted and collective action to quell the dangers of NCDs,' said Amit Yadav of Health Related Information Dissemination Amongst Youth (HRIDAY), a voluntary organisation working to prevent NCDs.

'NCDs are majorly preventable and can be countered through healthy lifestyle. The campaign will culminate on World Cancer Day (Feb 4, 2014) where the signature will be presented to policy makers,' added Yadav.

Research estimates that by 2020, NCDs in India will rise to 7.63 million and cost India Rs. 126 trillion by 2030.

How non-communicable diseases are hurting the economy?

According to a study done by Harvard School of Public Health, the economic burden due to non-communicable diseases will be about $6.2 trillion for India, from 2012-2030. This amount is almost nine times higher than the total health expenditure for the past 19 years.

So what has brought about these astronomical changes in the numbers? While communicable diseases like polio and malaria are getting under control, there is a rise in cases of diabetes, hypertension, etc in urban India. And no, it is not just restricted to the aged, these diseases are attacking the youth in great numbers. Is our lifestyle to be blamed for this? Sedentary lifestyles, smoking, drinking, unhealthy eating habits and lack of exercise. If this is what your routine consists of, then it won't be too long before the symptoms for one or the other disease shows up.

Diabetes galore

According to the World Health Statistics report 2012, 11.1 per cent of the adult male population and 10.8 per cent of the female population have raised fasting blood glucose. Compare it with our neighbouring countries, and barring Pakistan, India has the highest number of diabetics, a whopping 6.1 million and counting.

Obese and how

According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3) (2005-06), the latest available on record, 13 per cent of women and nine per cent of men in India are overweight or obese. Dr Ravindran Kumeran, founder trustee at Obesity Foundation India, a non-profit organization working in the sector to promote awareness against obesity, says that the present generation is probably the most sedentary generation of people in the history of the world. No wonder the numbers are getting higher day by day. (Read: How unhealthy lifestyles are hurting the economy?)

With inputs from IANS

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