Burden of non-communicable diseases in India

“The two-day National Summit on Non-Communicable Diseases is a much needed move in support of the nation’s fight against NCDs,” says India Health Progress, an independent forum set up a year ago and itself has undertaken various initiatives and multi-stakeholder approaches to address this major issue.

A round table conference organized by India Health Progress (IHP) in October last year focused on the growing social and economic burden of NCDs in India, drawing inference from a report by the Cameron Institute on the same theme. The report stated that, “in addition to the obvious effects that morbidity and mortality have, the burden of these diseases on the country’s economy is often substantial in terms of loss of productivity, loss of employment, and health care expenditures. The projected cumulative loss of national income for India due to non communicable disease mortality for 2006-2015 will be $237 billion. By 2030, this productivity loss was expected to double to 17.9 million years lost - almost 1,000% greater than the corresponding loss in the USA, which has a population a third the size of India’s.”

NCDs today are rising at an alarming rate and threatening the health of the urban and rural population alike. There is an immediate need to battle this problem through meaningful dialogue, strong commitment and serious investment, says IHP, noting that these measures are essential for the health of India as well as its economic progress.