GoI releases “Health in India” report

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation recently released a report titled “Health in India”. The main objective of the report was to gather quantitative information on India’s health sector.

Highlights

The report highlighted on health of religious communities in the country.

Key Findings of the Report

The report said that around 7.5% of Indians suffered from ailments. In rural India, around 6.8% suffered from ailments. In Urban India, the numbers were 9.1%.

Among all the religions, the Zoroastrians were the most susceptible to ailments. According to the National Sample Survey that was released in July 2020, around 31.1% of Zoroastrians reported that they suffered from ailments. The percentage of people sick in other communities were as follows

• Jains: 11.2%
• Sikhs: 11%
• Christians: 10.5%
• Muslims: 8.1%
• Buddhists: 8%
• Hindus: 7.2%

The survey has also found that women remained more susceptible to suffering than men. In rural India. Around 6.1% of males were suffering from ailments and 7.6% of rural women were suffering from ailments. On the other hand, in urban areas, 8.2% of males were sick and 10% of females were sick. This shows that in both urban and rural areas greater number of females suffered from ailments as compared to men.

Ailment

The survey defines ailment as a deviation faced by the person in his or her physical well being.

Background

The report has been prepared based on the information provided by the NSS Schedule 25.0 (Household Consumption: Health). The data was collected through a sample survey. It surveyed 1.13 households including 5.55 lakh people.

Significance of religion in health

The relation between health and religion is highly important. This is because, religious practices help reduce the likelihood of certain diseases. Also, studies suggest that the religious practices mainly guard against blood pressure and helps to increase the immune system of human body.

Month: Current Affairs - September, 2020