Kerala - Kannur   

Concern over high rate of morbidity in State

Staff Reporter

State is trailing in sustaining its health status, says expert

KANNUR: High morbidity rate is a major issue in the State's health sector even as the health status here is comparatively far better than that of other States, according to papers presented at the Kerala Science Congress.

A paper presented at the Kerala Science Congress here on Tuesday said Kerala known for its advanced human development index and better health status was now ailing from acute morbidity of different communicable and chronic illnesses.

K. Gangadharan of the Department of Applied Economics, Kannur University, in his paper titled `Kerala's health status: some issues', said the State was trailing in sustaining the health status, which it had retained in the last decade.

The paper said an estimated 181 out of every thousand people in the State were morbid due to any of the illnesses. Urban Kerala records the highest male morbidity prevalence rate of 185 per thousand.

Morbidity prevalence rate is 103 in India, the paper said quoting published data.

Another paper titled `Health profile of the aged population' by M.L. Niju and T.K. Chandrashekharan of the Academy of Medical Sciences (ACME), Pariyaram, found that a significant number of elderly people surveyed for the study reported various psychological issues.

It said that change in the family setup was imposing great strain on the elderly population.

It found that 8.3 per cent of the 207 people in the age group 65-89 reported anxiety problem and decreased or disturbed sleep, while 4.3 per cent were worried about avoidance from family members.

Nearly 41 per cent of those surveyed reported of having difficulties with chronic illnesses, including diabetes and hypertension.

About 84.5 per cent of the studied group had eyesight problems, including cataract, the paper said.

Another paper dwelt on the prevalence of Type II diabetes mellitus in the rural population of the State.

The paper based on a study conducted by a three-member team of the Academy of ACME, Pariyaram, in two wards of the Kadannappally-Panappuzha panchayat in Kannur district found that the prevalence of diabetes was highest in the age group of 70-74.

The study revealed that overall prevalence of diabetes mellitus was 66 per 1,000 population.

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