People living in urban areas have an easy access to best healthcare facilities whereas, in rural areas, accessibility to proper medical services is difficult
Chronic diseases have an effect on all countries, and the augment in their prevalence is to a great extent attributed to varying demographics and changing lifestyles, absence of better disease management and a better understanding of the factors that cause the disease.
Laboratory, clinical and population-based research has revealed that a few risk factors are responsible for the prevalence of most chronic diseases: unhealthy diet and high energy ingestion, lack of physical activity and use of tobacco. Alcohol intake, environmental pollutants, age and hereditary factors also play a role. These risk factors are the same in men and women and across all regions in the world.
The associated healthcare, financial and social burden of chronic diseases, which include diabetes mellitus, coronary heart disease, asthma, chronic obstructive airway disease, hypertension, chronic depression, osteoporosis, end stage renal failure and stroke, are progressively on the increase.
Chronic diseases are a tremendous burden to individuals and to countries and the available traditional healthcare methods are not able to meet the requirements for preventing and reducing this burden. It is because of this problem that chronic disease management has emerged as a new approach towards caring for patients with chronic diseases.
Chronic disease management in clinical circles can be defined as an elaborate, systematic, multicomponent strategy to delivering healthcare while involving all members in the population or community who suffer from similar infections. The government must focus on Chronic Disease Management and devise a better strategy to prevent it.
Ashfaque Sangi
Karachi Sindh
Failed Health System
Health sector in Pakistan has been struggling for many years. Health delivery system is run by both state and non-state authorities. People living in urban areas have an easy access to best healthcare facilities whereas, in rural areas, accessibility to proper medical services is difficult. People either live far away from the clinics/hospitals or they don’t have any such institutes in their areas.
In Pakistan, many efforts have been made to improve the health system but still it is not encouraging. The main health issues are due to lack of awareness, poor diet, and water pollution and hygiene problems leading to communicable and non-communicable diseases. Poor medical facilities are also resulting in health deterioration of underprivileged people of Pakistan. Due to the shortage of nurses and doctors for rural areas, every year thousands of children die during birth or if they survive, they suffer from one or two diseases. The increasing number of heart patients mostly including children suffering from congenital heart defect is alarming. The mortality rate of women is also high because they are treated by midwives with no professional knowledge. There are many government hospital providing free treatment to poor people but too is not sufficient.
Zulqarnain Samo
Karachi Sindh
