India’s health budget: ‘SHRINKING’

The Budget comes with a minor increase in allocation to health as compared to last year. It doesn't totally restore the reduction that caused dismay within the last budget nor will it replicate the biggest governmental resource pool out there from the growing value and falling  fuel costs. One would have thought that the more comfortable fiscal space would allow a better  priority to health, as advocated by the Economic Survey.

The initiative on Jan Aushadi stores is welcome, because it ought to improve access to low priced, quality assured generic medicine. Can it replace the antecedently planned free provision of essential medicine in any respect public facilities? Or is that one thing the states have to be compelled to pursue on their own?

The proposed scheme to provide Rs 1 lakh of health insurance cover to each family appears to be an expansion of the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana. Will it also restrict its coverage to hospitalised care? While useful in reducing some of the financial shocks of hospitalisation, it will not reduce the high level of expenditure on recurrent out patient care or chronic drug therapy. More details are needed on how this scheme will function. The proposal to fund dialysis centres is again welcome, but limited in impact, if primary care is not efficient in preventing high blood pressure or diabetes progressing to kidney failure.

The increase tobacco taxes is a case of ‘willing to strike, but afraid to wound’. Bidis have again been left out of the tax net, even though they are the most frequently consumed form of tobacco. The finance minister’s gentle wave is not enough to disperse the dense cloud of tobacco smoke that envelopes public health today.

World AIDS Day

World AIDS Day

1^st December, 2015 commemorate the 27^th World AIDS Day, and therein  time HIV has moved  from a "death sentence" to a manageable and treatable chronic disease. 

Though this shows important progress, health care leaders involved continuing support as 35 million people stay infected worldwide and many of them don’t  receive access to treatment. 

HIV kills 1.2 million across the world every year, it's the second-foremost reason of death by infection, behind TB. HIV kill or damage the body's immune system cells and is most often unfold through unprotected sex with an infected individual. It may be spread by sharing infected drug needles or through contact with the blood of someone infected. Adult females can give HIV to their infants during pregnancy or childbearing. Left untreated, HIV can within two to 15 years advance to AIDS, which can pull in people vulnerable to fatal diseases. 

Though there’s  no cure for HIV, an individual who is infected have to take several pills daily, allowing them to function normally, with very little risk of transmission. 

Below are some of the most important numbers related to HIV/AIDS.  

16 million: People Who Have Access to Antiretroviral Treatment   

Scientific advancements have helped stabilize those who are infected with HIV and helped reduce the risk of transmission to others. HIV-positive people who take antiretroviral medications can suppress the virus, allowing them to live a normal lifespan and reducing the risk of transmission to others. When used properly, the virus is undetected in a person's blood. 

The World Health Organization most recently reported that close to 16 million people who are infected with HIV are taking antiretroviral medication – 11 million of whom are in Africa. The UN General Assembly set a goal to double the number of people on medication by 2020, and to eradicate the disease by 2030. 

$12 Billion: The Amount of Money Needed to Reach Eradication
Since 2000, funding to eradicate AIDS has increased nearly fourfold, as governments and nonprofits united to eradicate it. Since 2000, nearly 8 million AIDS-related deaths have been averted. But the ONE Campaign, a policy and advocacy organization, says funding has plateaued. To end the disease, funding must reach $32 billion a year by 2020 – $12 billion more than current levels. Without further assistance, UNAIDS has projected that the epidemic could once again be on the rise.  

“The progress we’ve made against HIV/AIDS is so powerful that it’s easy to get lulled into a false sense of security about the size of the fight in front of us,” Erin Hohlfelder, ONE director of global health policy, said in a statement. 

Leaders in sub-Saharan African countries, in particular, have not increased their domestic spending to levels they promised. If 40 countries spent 1 percent more on their health programs, and spend one-fifth of that increase on AIDS programs, it would be enough to buy antiretrovirals for more than 7 million additional people, the ONE Campaign says.

 

UNAIDS projects global spending on HIV/AIDS will rise to $21.7 billion by the end of 2015. 

50 Percent: Of New Infections, Half Are in People Under Age 25
Young people have been heavily affected by HIV globally. In South Africa, more than 800 girls ages 15 to 19 are infected with HIV every week. Worldwide, more than 3.2 million children under age 15 are living with HIV.  

19 Million: Number of HIV- Positive People Who Don't Know It​​
About 54 percent of people who are infected with HIV don't know it – often because they don't have access to testing. When people know their status, according to UNAIDS, they are more likely to seek treatment. 

Some populations are disproportionately affected. Transgender women are 49 times more likely to be living with HIV than other adults of reproductive age. Compared with the general population, men who have sex with men are 19 times more likely to be living with HIV and people who inject drugs are 28 times more likely to be infected. 

One-Third: Who Don't Know About Prevention 

People who knowingly have sex with someone who has an HIV-positive diagnosis can protect themselves from infection by taking Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis, or PrEP, a pill taken every day that is commonly known as Truvada. It reduces the risk of sexually acquired HIV by more than 90 percent, and drug users' risk by 70 percent.

Source: US News