Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore   

WHO to help launch pilot project

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE Oct. 28. It is official now. Lifestyle diseases such as hypertension and diabetes are no longer the preserve of affluent urban folk. Urban poor are equally vulnerable, and the rapid rise in the incidence of non-communicable diseases today represents a major health challenge.

With WHO support, the Commonwealth Association for Mental Handicap and Development Disabilities (CAMHADD) is all set to launch a pilot project in the city that will focus on preventive cardiology.

The CAMHADD Emeritus Secretary General, V.R. Pandurangi, told presspersons here today that Bangalore was a "focus city" along with 11 other cities around the globe, and it would be a "Healthy City" whose experience could be emulated elsewhere.

According to the WHO, non-communicable diseases contributed to 60 per cent of deaths in the world in 1999, and 50 per cent of these deaths were attributed to cardiovascular diseases. However, the good news is that trials and population studies have shown a potential for prevention. The CAMHADD-WHO global consultative workshop, to be held here from November 3 to 7, will focus on population-based cost-effective intervention strategies to prevent hypertension and diabetes. These two are the main contributors of atherosclerosis, coronary artery diseases, and cerebrovascular diseases in developing countries.

Apart from the workshop, the pilot project, which will be guided by the former Vice-Chancellor of Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, S. Chandrashekar Shetty, will be the prelude to a "Bangalore Declaration'' that will help make lifestyle disease management a habit among the urban poor.

The projects in the pipeline are: a common health centre for preventive cardiology, a screening and detection project covering Mathikere and Yeshwantpur, and free treatment for citizens over 65 years.

The Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) has allocated space in its Shantinagar health centre to set up the health centre, where, in the pilot stage, the pourakarmikas employed by the BMP will be covered.

The former Director of Health Services, M.T. Hema Reddy, who is assisting the project implementation, said the survey would help come up with the exact numbers of the urban poor at risk to these diseases, and enable application of appropriate intervention.

Prof. Shetty said that initially, those who were examined at the health centre would be referred to Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology, or R.V. Dental College, and other centres co-opted into the programme. Dr. Pandurangi said the Shantinagar Health Centre would ultimately emerge as a full-fledged, independent centre for preventive cardiology.

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