The National Plan to Prevent Diseases

On 08 July2010, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) in India approved the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular diseases and Stroke (NPCDCS). The cost of the programme to be implemented during the remaining period of the 11th Five Year Plan will be shared by the Centre and the States in the ratio of 80 to 20.
The NPCDCS programme is to be implemented in 20 thousand sub centres and seven hundred community health centres in 100 districts across 15 states and Union Territories.  Over seven crore adults over the age of 30 will be examined for Diabetes, Hyper tension and early diagnosis of Non Communicable Diseases (NCD) under this health programme.

The NPCDCS programme is aimed at promoting healthy life style through massive health education. Thirty-Two thousand personnel will be trained at several stages to provide the facilities of screening diagnosis and management of non communicable diseases. 

Transfer of funds from one component to the other beyond this limit would be decided by the Empowered Programme Committee (EPC) and Mission Steering Group (MSG). Approval has also been accorded for empowering the MSG and EPC setup under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) to approve financial norms in respect of all components of the programme.

India is experiencing a rapid health transition with a rising burden of Non-Communicable Diseases(NCDs) which are emerging as the leading cause of death in India accounting for over 42% of all deaths with considerable loss in potentially productive years (aged 35-64 years) of life. According to a WHO report (2002), cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) will be the largest cause of death and disability in India by 2020. It is estimated that the overall prevalence of diabetes, hypertension, Ischemic Heart Diseases (IHD) and Stroke is 62.47, 159.46, 37.00 and 1.54 respectively per 1000 population of India. There are an estimated 25 Lakh cancer cases in India. The cost implications of NCDs to society are enormous and add up into thousands of crores of rupees that include direct costs to people with illness, their families and indirect costs to society due to reduced productivity.

Major risk factors behind these diseases are raised blood pressure, cholesterol, tobacco use, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, alcohol consumption, and obesity which are modifiable. Hence, a majority of cancers and CVDs can be prevented and treated if diagnosed at an early stage. Health promotion and prevention of chronic NCDs are yet to be properly addressed in the country’s health system. Presently, medical services, too, are not sufficiently equipped to provide the required level of care for these diseases in primary and secondary health-care settings. Therefore, the appropriate strategies have been devised to be implemented under NPCDCS to ensure that the NCDs can be prevented and managed in an effective manner.