Health Analytics India - An Initiative By dataLEADS
Analysis and views from leading voices in journalism, corporate world, medicine and public health, and more
In India, the number of patients that require health care is astounding but unfortunately, data collection, retrieval and analysis mechanisms are extremely rudimentary. But we as clinicians have a responsibility to collect our own data, critically analyse it and keep ourselves aware.
Non-communicable diseases have emerged as the largest killers of women in India - responsible for 60% of all deaths amongst women in 2013, up from 38% in 1990. The most common causes of death in women, as in men, are now ischemic heart disease (known as heart attack).
There is no vaccine or cure for dengue, a deadly tropical disease which hit millions of people in India every year. For long the only way to fight the disease has been to poison the insects that carry it. Now India’s pharma giant, Sun Pharma has joined hands with the ICGEB to develop botanical drug for dengue.
India today has the lowest sex ratio since 1961. In 2001, there were 927 girls in India for every 1,000 boys. In 2011, it's down to 918. The worst figures are reported by the most prosperous states, showing that poverty is not the only reason for rejecting daughters.
Confiscation of illegal medicines by Swiss customs has dropped for the first time in three years. Asia, in particular India, remains the biggest source of Illegal medicine imports into Switzerland drop.
When we try to understand the healthcare system of any country, the first thing we try to do is to go through the data. In India, sometimes you are surprised by how much you are able to find. But is the data really accurate, trustworthy.