More funds to fight lifestyle diseases

The health ministry is planning to spend more funds, over and above the current sanction of Rs.955 crore (2017-18) for tackling lifestyle diseases such as cardiovascular disease (CVD), hypertension, obesity and diabetes. Interestingly, in 2017-18 non-communicable diseases (NCDs) received the highest increase in allocation from Rs.555 crore in 2016-17 to Rs.955 crore in 2017-18. “NCDs are Union Health Ministry’s major concern and we are running special screening programs for the disease category. We may get more funds in next financial year and one of our focuses will be NCDs,” said Kavita Singh, director finance, National Rural Health Mission. While the Union health ministry is running major screening programmes for NCDs, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) launched the India Hypertension Management Initiative (IHMI). The IHMI aims to reduce disability and death related to CVD, the leading cause of death in India, by improving the control of high blood pressure (hypertension), reducing salt consumption and eliminating artificial trans-fats, leading risk factors for CVD.