IMA calls for strong public health system in India

Visakhapatnam, Apr 7 (UNI) With World Health Day being observed today, the Andhra Pradesh unit of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has decided to have International Health Security as the theme for this year.

The theme was decided as there was a possiblity of spreading diseases from one georgraphical area to another due to increased mobility of people spurred by globlisation, local IMA president L V Raghava Rao told mediapersons here.

He said emphasis was on measures to reduce the vulnerability of people to the new risk from diseases, natural disasters and due to effects of environmental changes.

A strong public health system in every country was necessary to contain the spread of disease and tackle other health problems, he stressed, and said public health system could be strenghthened through coordinated efforts of governments, private sector, NGOs, clinical societies and other such bodies.

"Invest in health, build a safer future for this year World Health Day," he said.

Former National president of the Indian Academy of Paeditrics Mr Parathasarthy said according to World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates, Pneumonia accounted for 20 to 25 per cent of child deaths in all countries.

With WHO recommending the use of seven vaccines in the routine infant immunization schedule, this would immensly benefit developing countries where more than one million children in a year die of pneumonia-related disease, he added.

UNI