Focus

Highlights

1. 1.

   In 2021, dengue and malaria were the leading vector-borne diseases in India with 188,366 and 158,326 cases respectively. Dengue also recorded the highest number of deaths at 247. In 2020, acute encephalitis had recorded the highest mortality with 248 deaths.

2. 2.

   In 2021, respiratory infection was the most prevalent communicable disease in India, with approximately 95.2 lakh cases among men and 78.7 lakh cases among women. It was followed by acute diarrhoeal disease, enteric fever (typhoid), pneumonia, and viral hepatitis (all causes).

3. 3.

   Data received from the states and union territories stated that there had been 778 cases of swine flu in India in 2021, a considerable decline from the 2,752 cases recorded the previous year. The total death from the flu also fell from 44 in 2020 to 10 in 2021.

4. 4.

   The country registered 115 cases of foeticide in 2021, the highest (23 cases each) recorded in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. The same year recorded 70 cases of infanticide with the highest numbers in Tamil Nadu (15) and Andhra Pradesh (10).

5. 5.

   In February 2021, 4,568 habitations – defined as “a group of families living in proximity to each other, within a village” – in 64 districts across six states (Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal) had excessive arsenic presence in their water supply.

6. 6.

   According to provisional figures, there were 836 cases of cholera recorded in the country in 2021. The highest of these were in West Bengal (603 cases) followed by Gujarat (79 cases) and Haryana (46 cases).

7. 7.

   Cases and deaths due to acute diarrhoeal diseases in India fell between 2020 and 2021, as per provisional figures from state directorates of health services. The total number of cases declined from 6.7 million in 2020 to 6.4 million in 2021. Whereas, the number of deaths fell from 1,870 to 1,375.

8. 8.

   As per the report, total expenditure under the National Health Mission (NHM) rose from Rs. 31,075.31 crore to Rs. 50,139.39 crore (provisional figures) between 2017-18 and 2021-22. The budget provision for the financial year 2022-23 under NHM was Rs. 47,634.07 crores, the report adds.

9. 9.

   At end of 2020, Maharashtra led with the highest number of registered doctors at 188,540, followed by Tamil Nadu with 148,216 doctors, Karnataka with 131,906, and Andhra Pradesh with 105,795. The total number of registered doctors in India was 1,300,290 as of December 31, 2020.

10. 10.

    The report states that medical education infrastructure has experienced significant growth in recent years. It records 648 medical colleges (396 government and 252 private) and a total of 98,013 MBBS seats in the country as of September 2022.

11. 11.

    As of March 31, 2021, India had a total of 157,819 sub centres, 30,579 primary health centres and 5,951 community health centres. It also had 1,224 sub-divisional hospitals and 764 district hospitals. However, the report presents no data on the current working conditions of these facilities.

    
    

    Focus and Factoids by Aseema.
    

    
    

    PARI Library's health archive project is part of an initiative supported by the Azim Premji University to develop a free-access repository of health-related reports relevant to rural India.