After the dual burdens of communicable and non-communicable diseases, India is now faced with a “triple-disease burden” with road injuries and deaths adding a third dimension.
Communicable and non-communicable diseases have been major causes of death in the country over the last few decades, but with the number of road accidents increasing drastically, the disease burden has gone up adding a third dimension to mortality.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), about 22 lakh people die in road accidents in urban areas alone. “Road accidents and injuries contribute significantly to morbidity and mortality, especially in cities,” points out an ICMR document.
The ICMR document, with plans for the next five years and review of the past 10 years on the health scenario of the country, admitted that there was little substantive change at the ground level.
In fact, the latest WHO data shows that India ranks high among nations showing a steep rise in premature deaths caused by non-communicable diseases, mainly cardiovascular, cancer, chronic respiratory, blood pressure and diabetes with a death roll of about 38 per cent in males (29.67 lakh) and 32.1 per cent (22.73 lakh) in females below 60 years.