Where India stood this World Health Day

Like every other year, World Health Day passed us by and health indicators barely improved in India.

We shall probably see some improvements when the Union health ministry comes up with a fresh report. But, for now, the December 2015 report serves as an indicator. And those numbers do not look good.

Malnutrition remains a huge concern countrywide. Although some will argue that malnutrition in the country may have cultural reasons, the lack of availability of proper nutrition, especially during early childhood and formative years, remains an area of great concern.

The midday meal scheme has done its bit in improving the nutritional profile in schools but the quality of food served has been an issue.

Irregularities in the scheme ensured that children either went hungry or were deprived of key nutrients in their diet.

It does not reflect well on India's image of an emerging power that it manages to meet only two out of the eight goals or targets set by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The 2015 report was prepared by Transform Nutrition Consortium and pointed out several alarming facts about the health profile of the country. They were mainly:

More than 18.5 per cent of children have birth weight under 2.5kg. As a result more than 38 per cent of the children suffer from stunted growth.

Neonatal care and maternal health are related - and it is deeply worrying that more than 55 per cent of women suffer from anaemia.

This explains the next set of findings - almost 70 per cent of children aged between 6 to 36 months suffer from anaemia.

Some of the malnutrition linked to neonatal healthcare can be traced to early age marriage. More than 30 percent women in their 20s are married off before 18.

1. That almost half the children between 6 to 8 months do not receive solid, semi-solid and soft food adds to their nutritional woes.
2. Over the last decade, awareness about the diets of babies has improved and, today, almost 65 per cent of infants aged under five months are exclusively breastfed.
3. Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) recommendations say that children under three years of age must get food supplements or additional supplementary food for at least three weeks in a month.

As of 2015, the actual percentage of children getting supplementary food for that duration stands at a poor 21 per cent.

This year, the theme of World Health Day was mental health: "Depression: Let's Talk".

India leads the suicide count across 10 South East Asian countries. Depression is a major cause of suicide. Every fourth child suffers from depression in the early teens and, overall, one fifth of the population potentially suffers from some sort of depression. Factor in a population of 130 crore: the sheer numbers would make your head swim.

Cases of depression have increased by more than 20 per cent in the past decade. Worldwide, untreated depression kills almost 7 lakh 90 thousand people yearly. That is about one death every 45 seconds.

Interestingly, in its initial stages, the condition is not difficult to counter. Cure is an absolute term and, in mental health, factors are often comparable rather than absolute. A celebrity like Deepika Padukone has come out in public and share her experience about depression and how she countered it.

This was an extremely positive action on her part, not to mention a brave step. If you share, you care - for the ones suffering, closeted, afraid to come out and face the world, first colloquially and then in real, physical terms.

Remember the mother-daughter duo recently rescued in Dabri? They had shut their door to the world in 2013 when their husband and father had died in a road accident. WHO has suggested a few simple ways to counter depression:

The government must increase expenditure on treatment of mental health disorders.

1. Start support systems where they do not exist and ramp up programmes for mental health disorders.
2. Increasing funding for research on mental health will facilitate better services.
3. A trained pool of human resources is a must for better mental healthcare.

Shekhar Saxena, director of the department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse at WHO, Geneva said: "For someone living with depression, talking to a person they trust is often the first step towards treatment and recovery."

So let's talk.

Also read: Maternity Benefit Bill - Well begun, (not) half-done