Diabetes in India Part 1

Diabetes is prevalent in USA.  We have good healthcare systems even for the under served thru Medicaid.  NCD, non communicable disease, have surpassed infectious disease as the number one killer in India.  It is wonderful that diseases which can be prevented by administering vaccines have decreased with the help of WHO, CDC AND NGOs.

India is a country with great disparities.the caste system is still strong and obvious everywhere I have visited, besides Ladakh and Kerala. The number of malnourished are much greater than the urban overweight. Almost 42 per cent of the children in the country numbering over 61 million (India's population is 1.2 billion) are malnourished and stunted according to the Hunger and Malnutrition Report released by Prime Minister Singh in New Delhi on Jan 2012, The report published stated that one in three malnourished children in the world is an Indian.  Malnutrition is NOT just the underfed but all people with improper diets.  I am here to work with diabetes, don't you think there are many other more pertinent healthcare tasks?  

The prevalence of malnutrition varies across states, with Madhya Pradesh-central india recording the highest rate (55 per cent) and Kerala among the lowest (27 per cent).

Malnutrition in children is not affected by food intake alone; it is also influenced by access to health services, quality of care for the child and pregnant mother as well as good hygiene practices. Girls are more at risk of malnutrition than boys because of their lower social status. Statistics found on UNICEF website.

Articles in the newspaper frequently discuss the corruption In high levels of government. There are multitude of issues that need to be addressed to solve healthcare and economic problems in India.

I live in a middle class area even so I see less fortunate, builders, rickshaw drivers, garbage collectors and sorters everywhere.  The haves and have nots. Maybe when walking NYC streets homeless can be seen but they are not everywhere allowing me to forget that its an issue.  The builders here, often transients from rural communities, come to the cities for work.  I am told that there is a strong hierarchy in the building unit.  The true laborers that carry the bricks, sand, stone are the lowest in the group, the brick layers are above and then a person overseeing.  A days work could easily be 12 hours/day everyday of the week.  And for pay, the laborers might get paid $5-7 USD/day.  Vishwa asked if I would like an interview with the builders.  I am embarrassed to ask for one but have so many questions.  They do have water for drinking, bathing and washing clothes.  They cook, sleep and exisit in their building lots.  The entire families are at the site, women and men work side by side hauling heavy loads of sand, bricks, concrete up one, two, three or even four stories.  Only a couple of times have I seen any large equipment to assist the manual laborers.  Not only do they build but they also dig, maybe a full story down - by hand!  I cannot answer if building homes in middle class areas are helping the economy as reports in the newspaper suggests that the economy is doing poorly similar to other parts of the world.