New Delhi, Jan 8 - The health outlook for millions of Indians for 2008 may not be all that bright as experts say that the country will continue battling major diseases like AIDS, polio, malaria and tuberculosis besides concerns like infant and maternal mortality.With Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss promising better health budget allocation and claiming he will rid the country of all diseases, experts and activists will be on the lookout to see how far his words translate into action.Here is a list of problems that the country could face in 2008:Polio: The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the union health ministry were optimistic about curbing the polio virus. But as the year 2007 drew to an end, India continued to be the hot bed of polio with 590 cases as against 676 cases in 2006.The government will continue to battle the disease with increased focus on Uttar Pradesh and Bihar as both the states represent 95 percent of the cases.'If the situation in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh can improve then we will have a different picture of polio,' Ramadoss told IANS.'In 2007, Bihar reported 244 cases as against 61 in 2006. The focus in 2008 is definitely on this east Indian state,' a member of the National Polio Surveillance Project said on condition of anonymity.'Uttar Pradesh showed much improvement with 316 cases in 2007 as against 548 in 2006. But there is no point being complacent in 2008. There is a deep pocket of the virus in western Uttar Pradesh,' he added.Malaria: In 2008, the union health ministry is planning to introduce a second line drug for malaria, which affects nearly 800,000 people every year in India and claims about 1,000 lives.The malaria parasite has developed resistance to the chloroquine drug in many parts of Orissa, Assam, Andhra Pradesh and some northeastern states.'A drug called SP will be given along with artesunate for better impact. I think the price of the combination will be at least 15 times costlier than chloroquine but the state and central governments are planning to subsidise it,' said S.K. Kar, director of the Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC) in Bhubaneswar.HIV/AIDS: The New Year also saw the introduction of a second line treatment to combat HIV/AIDS, which means the disease has developed resistance.
(c) Indo-Asian News Service
