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Writer's pictureAthena Apaga & Lindsay George

The Indian Healthcare Disparity: Not Beyond Disrepair

If you are reading this article, then you are presumably accessing it online. You are literate, have time for leisure to read, and own a device that connects you to all sorts of digital content. These may seem like the possessions and capabilities any normal person would have, but you have the privilege of belonging to a high quality of living. You may be desensitized to the advantages you possess, but what if your situation was compared to someone of a completely different lifestyle? See how the other half lives in the slums of India.

The poor management of the Indian Healthcare system heavily impacts children. Children who have no control over their family’s income are subjected to untrained medical professionals or even no medical care at all. Common causes of death for young children, such as diarrhea and respiratory infections, are easily treatable with mild medical attention. However, because of how inaccessible proper medicine is in India, these children suffer from curable illnesses with no help. While the help they need is potentially inexpensive, the people are hindered by their lack of access to real hospitals.

Someone traveling to India may see the shining hospitals in wealthy urban areas and assume the whole country is flourishing, unaware that what economically unfortunate areas call a hospital is a simple shack with little, if any, medical professionals. Hospitals in rural areas have few resources to perform safe examinations and procedures. Simple antibiotics and vaccinations are rarely available in poor communities where it is difficult to get funding or proper storage. The economic disparity will only persist if changes aren’t made.

The easiest way to help is awareness. People worldwide are uninformed about the current state of Indian healthcare. Raising widespread awareness, both within and beyond India, makes change easier and more likely to occur. Many Indians have very little knowledge about the importance of Healthcare. Specifically, the lack of education for girls leads to many women growing up untrained in how to medically raise their children. This lack of medical awareness is harmful to the communities as a whole.

ANANTA seeks a means to end the troubles of the underprivileged youth of India. By providing communities with proper sanitation products and education about issues they may not know they may be suffering from, we can break the pattern of poverty, uplift an entire generation, and achieve universality.


 

References

Kasthuri, Arvind. "Challenges to Healthcare in India- The Five A's." NCBI, Indian Association of Preventive & Social Medicine, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6166510/.

Pappachan, Binu, and Imti Choonara. "Inequalities in Child Health in India." NCBI, BMJ Publishing Group, 4 Aug. 2017, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5862182/


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