Medindia- World Health Day

The Face Of Indian Health Care: A World Health Day Evaluation

The World Health Day is celebrated on the 7th of April every year. The theme of the World Health Day this year is to reduce child mortality, improve maternal health and combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases. The slogan for World Health Day 2006 is "Working together for health".

The healthcare industry world over this year has been put under the magnifying glass. The governments of countries like the United States, United Kingdom, India and Africa are being but under constant pressure to create a Health care network providing not only better care but also free services to the underprivileged.

India�s healthcare industry has been in focus due to natural calamities like floods in Bombay, the tsunami devastation and more recently with the bird flu threat the world over. The Indian people with some support from the media have now understood the importance of preparedness to deal with such problems.

With England�s NHS under strain making it unable to provide free services to patients and the United States policy of providing health treatment for only the insured; many patients from these countries are looking at countries like India for treatment. Recently a CII-McKinsey study reports that �Medical tourism� can contribute Rs 5,000-10,000 crore additional revenue for up market tertiary hospitals by 2012. The Prime Minister announced the formation of �Health Foundation� for the country last month.

Child Health

In developing countries including India �infant mortality� continues to be very high. Recent survey conducted shows that many of these deaths could be prevented if more awareness is established on the government immunization programs. Ironically, India�s Immunization Program is one of the largest in the world in terms of quantities of vaccines used, numbers of beneficiaries, and the numbers of immunization sessions organized when considering diversity and the geographical spread of the country.�

Child immunization is the act of preventing childhood diseases such as diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, poliomyelitis, typhoid and childhood tuberculosis, measles, chicken pox and small pox by giving chemical substances, which contains the contributing organization at a reduced viral state. Most immunizations can be given either through an injection or through the mouth.