Reforms in Health Sector 2013

The Eleventh Plan highlighted various health issues in the country, which inter-alia included high Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR), Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and Total Fertility Rate (TFR)  and called for  initiatives for improving health care indicators. Various initiatives taken by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in partnership with States/UTs have resulted in improvement of health care indicators in the country. MMR in India declined from 254 per one lakh live births for the period 2004-06 to 212 per one lakh live births during the period 2007-09. IMR registered a decline of 14 points from 58 per 1000 live births in 2005 to 44 per 1000 live births in 2011. TFR declined from 2.6 in 2008 to 2.5 in 2010.

Government has taken several steps during the Eleventh Plan which  inter alia, included the following :

(1) Effective implementation of National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) to provide primary and secondary healthcare. The main focus areas of NRHM include improvement in heath infrastructure, providing adequate human resources to man health facilities and to provide quality health care service.

(2)Effective planning and implementation of Reproductive Child Health (RCH) related intervention which inter-alia include development of Community Health Centres (CHCs) as First Referral Units (FRUs), Upgradation of Primary Health Centres (PHCs) as 24x7 PHCs, implementation of JananiSurakshaYojana (JSY) and JananiShishuSurakshaKaryakaram (JSSK), Life Saving Anesthetics Skills (LSAS) and  Emergency Obstetric Care (EmOC) training of doctors, improved ante-natal, intra-natal and post natal care,  development of Special Newborn Care Units (SNCUs), Newborn Care Units (NBCUs) and Newborn Care Corners (NBCCs), Home based newborn care, distribution of contraceptives through Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs), improving access to spacing and terminal methods etc.

(3) Making available tertiaryhealth   care services through strengthening of hospitals and establishment of AIIMS like institutions in the country.

(4) Up-gradation of existing Government medical colleges across the country.

(5)Effective Implementation of  programmes for control of communicable and non-communicable diseases.

(6) Mainstreaming of Indian System of Medicine and Homeopathy.

(7) Increased public allocation for health programmes.

Moreover, the Twelfth Plan strategy is to strengthen initiatives taken in the Eleventh Plan to further expand the reach of health care with focus on vulnerable and marginalized sections of population. The Plan envisages substantial expansion and strengthening of the public health systems and provision of robust primary health care.

As per the 12^th Five Year Plan document, total public funding by the Centre and States, plan and non-plan, on core health is envisaged to increase to 1.87 per cent of GDP by the end of the Twelfth Plan. When viewed in the perspective of the broader health sector, the total Government expenditure as a proportion of GDP is envisaged to increase to 3.04 per cent by the end of the Twelfth Plan. The allocation of 12^th Five Year Plan for Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has been substantially increased to Rs. 300018 crore.

Pic Source:the hindu.com

Soil Borne Infections

Soil Transmitted Helminthiases (STH) are the most important infections among the school going children in the country. There is no regular surveillance of such infections. Thus State/UTs wise status is not available. However as per WHO progress report on Soil Transmitted Helminthiases, 42 % of the children in South East Asia region are in need of deworming treatment and out of this 64% of children are from India. Under the school health programme, deworming tablets are provided to all the children bi annually. Beside this, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has also launched National Iron plus strategy for control of iron deficiency anaemia where all the children from 6 months to 18 years of age are provided weekly supplementation of iron and folic acid. Teacher and Anganwadi workers are also trained to supervise administration of the medicines and refer sick children.

Cloud Computing in Healthcare

Hi friends, as you all know this blog do posts related to cloud computing articles,videos and presentations.

Here are the few video presentations which depicts the need-of-the hour of new technology in health care industry.

Also See this video too :Click Here

Sudarshan kriya yoga: Breathing for health

Breathing techniques are regularly recommended for relaxation,stress management, control of psychophysiological states, and to improve organ function. Yogic breathing, defined as a manipulation of breath movement, has been shown to positively affect immune function, autonomic nervous system imbalances, and psychological or stress-related disorders. The aim of this study was to assess and provide a comprehensive review of the physiological mechanisms, the mind-body connection, and the benefits of Sudarshan Kriya Yoga (SKY) in a wide range of clinical conditions. Various online databases searched were Medline, Psychinfo, EMBASE, and Google Scholar. 

All the results were carefully screened and articles on SKY were selected. The references from these articles were checked to find any other potentially relevant articles. SKY, a unique yogic breathing practice, involves several types of cyclical breathing patterns, ranging from slow and calming to rapid and stimulating. There is mounting evidence to suggest that SKY can be a beneficial, low-risk, low-cost adjunct to the treatment of stress, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, stress-related medical illnesses, substance abuse, and rehabilitation of criminal offenders.

For more information: Click Here

Source:http://www.ijoy.org.in
PicSource:nusyesplus.wordpress.com -

Tips for Healthy Bones

Download this image and go through this good informative page. Take care of your health and your family members too.

Do follow the diet to keep your bones healthy.

Exercise -Sitting Time =Good Sleep

Insomniacs  looking for a good night's sleep may want to hit the treadmill, take a walk or play a game of golf or tennis because a new report released on Monday shows exercise promotes good sleep and the more vigorous the workout the better. 

Just 10 minutes of exercise a day could make a difference in the duration and quality of sleep, the survey by the non-profit National Sleep Foundation showed.

"We found that exercise and great sleep go together, hand in hand," Max Hirshkowitz, a sleep researcher and the chair of the poll task force, said in an interview.

"We also found a step-wise increase in how vigorous the quality is, in terms of how much you exercise. So if you say you exercise a lot, we found better sleep quality. For people who don't exercise at all we found more sleep problems."

Earlier research studies have shown the impact of exercise on sleep, but Hirshkowitz, who is a professor at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, said the survey is the first to detail the benefits of exercise in a nationally representative poll of this size.

People who described themselves as exercisers reported better sleep than their more sedentary counterparts, although the amount of sleep, an average of just under seven hours on weeknight, was the same.

More than 75 percent of the 1,000 people questioned in the Internet and telephone poll who described themselves as exercisers said they slept well, compared to just over half of people who did no exercise.

Very active people reported fewer sleep problems, dozed off quicker and needed less shut eye a night to function at their best during the day.

Sitting, more than eight hours daily also had a negative impact on sleep, according to the poll.

NAPS, STRUGGLING TO STAY AWAKE

Nearly half of Americans report experiencing insomnia occasionally, and 22 percent suffer from the condition, which can be caused by stress, anxiety, pain and medication, every or almost every night, according to the foundation. 

In addition to poorer sleep, non-exercisers also were less likely to report good or excellent health compared to active people and had more trouble staying awake while driving and eating. 

Nearly three times as many sedentary people said they have trouble keeping awake during the day than exercisers. They also took more naps and had more symptoms of sleep apnea, a disorder that causes shallow breaths or pauses in breathing during sleep, than exercisers,More than 44 percent of non-exercisers were at a moderate risk for sleep apnea, a higher percentage than active people questioned in the poll. 

The survey also seemed to debunk the idea that exercising early or late in the day would adversely impact sleep because it showed that being active at any time of the day was better than being sedentary. 

"Exercise is beneficial to sleep," Dr. Barbara Phillips, a member of the poll task force, said in a statement. "It's time to revise global recommendations for improving sleep and put exercise - any time - at the top of our list for healthy sleep habits." 

Full Credit to Click Here

Pic Source: blogs.palmbeachpost.com  / www.everydayhealth.com  

Webinar : Cloud Computing in Health Care

                           In this webinar held February 13, 2013, Dennis Giokas and Ron Parker of Canada Health Infoway talk  about the significant opportunity that exists to use cloud computing to deliver digital health to Canadians in a timely and effective manner.

Must Watch video for techies, who believes in Cloud computing technology  and its implementation across various sectors.

 

Positivity on life leads to maintain healthier cholesterol levels

U.S. researchers writing in The American Journal of Cardiology have found better levels of "good cholesterol" and other markers of heart health in the blood of middle-aged study subjects with a sunny outlook on life. 

At least some of the connection between optimism and blood lipids in the new study appeared to result from the optimists' tendency to have a healthy body weight and a "prudent" diet, according to researchers. 

"It is one additional piece of evidence suggesting that our psychological health and physical health are intertwined, and that viewing the world optimistically may have some tangible benefits for our health," said lead author Julia Boehm, a research fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health. 

Previous research by Boehm and her colleagues had shown a link between optimism and lowered heart attack risk, so they decided to look at whether there was an independent connection between optimistic or pessimistic outlooks and cholesterol, which is known to play a role in heart attack risk. 

The group analyzed data from the Midlife in the United States study, which included phone interviews and lab tests for 990 people aged 40 to 70. 

Based on the interviews, participants' levels of optimism were rated on a scale from 6 to 30 depending on their agreement or disagreement with statements like "in uncertain times I usually expect the best." 

People with higher optimism scores also had more high-density lipoprotein (HDL), the desirable form of cholesterol that is believed to protect against heart disease. They also had lower levels of triglycerides, the fatty molecules involved in hardening of the arteries. 

There was no connection between optimism and total cholesterol levels, or to low-density lipoproteins (LDL), the "bad" cholesterol. Fore every increase of 5 points on the optimism scale, however, HDL in the blood increased by 1 milligram per deciliter. 

That same HDL increase would translated to a three percent reduction in the risk for heart disease, experts said. For comparison, regular exercise can decrease heart disease risk by six percent.

"Honestly, I'm not surprised, this is what I expect," said Franz Messerli, a cardiologist at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in New York, who was not involved in the study. 

It's still impossible to say whether optimism causes a change in cholesterol, or cholesterol influences outlook, or both are subject to some third variable, Messerli said. 

Boehm's group did try to account for other influences, and when they factored in lifestyles, including diet and alcohol consumption, and body weight - the link between optimism and blood fats became weaker.

That suggests that optimists' tendency to have healthier lifestyles and weight may explain "in part" the differences in their blood lipids, researchers said. 

Conversely, the risk of heart attack and stroke goes up in depressed people, Messerli said. "But nobody has shown the opposite, that all of a sudden if you go from a pessimist to an optimist your risk goes down," he added.

Full Credit to Reuters Health / Zawya.com

Pic Source: www.thisisgrimsby.co.uk / wellnesscoachingaustralia.blogspot.com

Kickstart Your Health By Neal Barnard,MD.

A Must watch Video, by Neal Barnard, MD. Although its a audio talk its worth listening .To all those who want to get control on what they eat and how to balance their diet will find a detailed explaination by Neal Barnard.

Author Neal Barnard, MD, is one of America's leading advocates for good nutrition. A pioneering clinical researcher, Dr. Barnard has conducted various studies on the ability of nutritional interventions to treat high-cholesterol diets, hormone imbal­ances, diabetes, and other conditions. His groundbreaking findings have appeared in numerous scientific journals such as The American Journal of Cardiology, Diabetes Care, and Preventive Medicine.

Dr. Barnard is the founder and president of the Physicians Committee for Respon­sible Medicine (PCRM), a nonprofit organization of doctors and laypersons that pro­motes preventive medicine, especially good nutrition, and addresses controversies in medicine, including ethical issues in research. He is also an adjunct professor of medicine at George Washington University as well as the president of The Cancer Project, a PCRM subsidiary that advances cancer prevention and survival through nutrition education and research.

Dr. Barnard is the author of 14 books, including Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes, Breaking the Food Seduction, Foods that Fight Pain, and Eat Right, Live Longer. He is also the editor-in-chief of Good Medicine and the author of hundreds of articles and opinion pieces. Dr. Barnard is a regular guest on network talk and news shows and a busy public speaker.

TELUS HEALTH Patient Stories-health apps

MUST WATCH VIDEO !!!!

TELUS HEALTH shares the reality of three application users, Halle, Walter and Carolyn. 

Listen to their stories and see how TELUS's applications are making it easier than ever to 

manage chronic disease to allow for a better life.