National Health Goals

  • Reduction of Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) to 32 per 1000 live births by 2017
  • Reduction of Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) to 123 per 100,000 live births by 2017
  • Reduction of Total Fertility Rate (TFR) to 2.1 by 2017
  • Prevention and reduction of under-nutrition in children under 3 years to half of NFHS-3 (2005-2006) levels 27 per cent by 2017
  • Prevention and reduction of anemia among women aged 15-49 years to 28 percent by end of 2017
  • Raising child sex ratio in the 0-6 years age group from 914 to 950
  • Prevention and reduction of burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases (including mental illness) and injuries
  • Reduction of poor household’s out-of-pocket expenditure to 1.87 percent of GDP by the end of 2017
  • Reduce Tuberculosis annual incidence and mortality by half by the end of 2017
  • Reduce Leprosy prevalence to <1/10,000 population and incidence to zero in all districts by the end of 2017
  • Annual malaria incidence of <1/1,000 by the end of 2017
  • Microfilaria prevalence <1 percent in all districts by the end of 2017
  • Case fatality rate of Dengue <1 percent by the end of 2017
  • Containment of Chikungunya outbreaks by the end of 2017
  • Reduction in Japanese Encephalitis mortality by 30 percent by the end of 2017
  • Elimination of Kala-azar by 2015, that is <1 case per 10,000 population in all blocks
  • Reduce new infections of HIV/AIDS to zero and provide comprehensive care, support and treatment services to all who require it

Community Medicine

Evolution

Over the period; medical science has evolved from the supernatural theory to a modern science. The subject Preventive & Social Medicine (PSM) is the relatively newer discipline conceptualized in the early twentieth century. Even after its conception, it has kept on growing and changed. It started as only preventive medicine which was to be applied to healthy people, customarily by actions affecting large population, with primary objective to disease prevention and health promotion.

Later on a social medicine which emphasizes the strong relationships between medicine and social science, and deals with more of study of epidemiology and medical care of society came on the surface.

The First World Medical Education Conference that met in London in August 1953 reviewed aim and content of the medical curriculum, the technique and method of education, and the importance of preventive and social medicine in the training of physicians. The Medical Education Conference organized by the Government of India in 1955 after the World Medical Education Conference recommended major reforms in medical education in India.

During this conference it was recommended that each medical college should have a Preventive and Social Medicine Department with fulltime staff. The teaching of Preventive and Social Medicine should start from the very beginning and continue throughout the period of training including the period of internship.

The functions of the Preventive and Social Medicine Department should be integrated with the teaching of the other departments along with a co-ordinated outpatient service. This department should have rural and urban health centres which will give the necessary facilities for rural training. A separate examination in Preventive and Social Medicine should be made part of the final M.B.B.S.

Another discipline, Public Health; borne out of a sanitary awakening movement following the industrial revolution and its consequences on the people’s health on the western sphere of the world in the early nineteenth century and largely dealing with sanitation and hygiene, i.e. clean water, clean surroundings, wholesome conditions of houses, control of offensive trades, etc. also shares some common objectives and areas.

All the three disciples are standing on the common foundation and are sharing many common areas, hence the term and role of these disciplines are many time used interchangeably, hence now a day the comprehensive terminology Community Medicine are also advocated by many people. Thus, Community Medicine is developed as a specialist discipline of medicine which acts as a link between health services and Clinical science.

Copyright © - IAPSM, All rights reserved