New Delhi: India is estimated to face the third highest economic burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) from 2020-50 after China and the US, new research published in The Lancet Global Health journal said. The third leading cause of death worldwide, COPD caused 3.3 million deaths in 2019, it said, with China recording the highest toll, followed by India and the USA.
The global death toll of COPD was found to have increased by 14.1 per cent between 2009 and 2019, an increase that the study attributed to factors such as urbanisation, air pollution, and tobacco use.
Modelling COPD’s economic burden for 204 countries and territories in 2020-50, the study found the disease to cost the world economy INT$4.3 trillion, the equivalent of a yearly tax of 0.11 per cent on global GDP and nearly half of India’s total GDP in 2019. INT$, or International Dollar, is a hypothetical currency having the same purchasing power parity that the US dollar had in the United States at a given point in time.
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The study also showed that the health and economic burdens of COPD are distributed unequally across countries and regions. 90 per cent of COPD-related deaths were found to occur in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), despite these countries accounting for only 83 per cent of the global population.
Even though LMICs only accounted for 56.4 per cent of COPD’s global economic burden, the study said that the figure is likely to rise if tobacco companies grow unregulated in emerging markets, more people are exposed to air pollution due to urbanisation and the epidemiological transition from infectious diseases to non-communicable ones progresses with enhanced life expectancy.
Lack of information of COPD’s global economic burden could possibly contribute to the insufficient attention given to this chronic condition by governments and policy makers, the study said. Particularly in LMICs, it said, few health policies are proposed directly aimed at preventing COPD, with limited access to diagnostics and the availability of little effective therapy. Early COPD-screening and identification can prevent disease progression and reduce health and economic burdens, the study said.
Research into cost-effective interventions such as community-based COPD screening is needed, as their effectiveness remains unexplored in some countries despite such programmes showing promising results with low costs. Evidence of effectiveness of such interventions could also help reduce COPD morbidity and mortality rate going forward, the study said. The study stressed the urgent need to invest in global efforts to curb COPD and its associated health and economic burdens.
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NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – theLGBTQ population,indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the currentCOVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water,SanitationandHygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fightmalnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health,adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues likeair pollution,waste management,plastic ban,manual scavengingand sanitation workers andmenstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India wheretoiletsare used andopen defecation free (ODF)status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched byPrime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diarrhoea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.
