🔆Role of disruptive technologies in improving the health sector

✅Synopsis: Application of future Digital technologies in the health sector can lead to accessible, affordable, and quality health care. Further, it can reduce human involvement in risky functions.

▪️Background

✅Human involvement in diagnosis, treatment, and hospital care of infected patients puts them at greater risk of contracting the disease. For instance, many frontline warriors fighting COVID-19 have lost their lives.
✅In this context, technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), autonomous systems, blockchain, cloud and quantum computing, data analytics, 5G can help in addressing the issue.
✅The new technologies can improve the welfare of societies and reduce the impact of communicable diseases. Further, it can reduce the chances of hospital staff contracting the infection.

▪️Recent developments regarding the use of disruptive technologies for hospital care:

✅One, according to global media reports, some established innovative field hospitals are using robots to care for COVID-19 affected patients.
✅Two, hospitals in China, are using 5G-powered temperature measurement devices at the entrance to flag patients who have fever-like symptoms.
Three, some robots are being used to measure heart rates and blood oxygen levels through smart bracelets.
✅Four, In India too, the Sawai Man Singh government hospital in Jaipur held trials with a humanoid robot to deliver medicines and food to hospitalized COVID-19 patients

▪️How new technologies can improve the hospital ecosystem?
✅One, Blockchain technology can help in addressing the interoperability challenges that health information and technology systems face.
✅The health blockchain will contain a complete indexed history of all medical data, including formal medical records and health data. Data will be sourced from mobile applications and wearable sensors. This will help in seamless medical attention.
✅Further, it allows for storing of data in a secured and authenticated network. Thereby, it will prevent erosion of Individuals’ privacy and ensure data security.

✅Two, Big data analytics can help improve patient-based services such as early disease detection.
✅Three, AI and the Internet of Medical Things, or IoMT can support medical care delivery in dispersed and complex environments through Medical autonomous systems.
✅Four, Cloud computing can facilitate collaboration and data exchanges between doctors, departments, and even institutions and medical providers. It will enable the best treatment.

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🔆Strengthening healthcare System

✅COVID-19 exposed several weaknesses in India’s health system.
✅The early months of the outbreak was difficult for the States with weaker health systems and the private sector was unable to share the burden.

▪️Present Status:

✅Rural primary care is underfunded and has shortages of staff, equipment, drugs and
infrastructure in many parts of the country.
✅ Urban primary healthcare has still not emerged as an active programme in many States.
✅District and medical college hospitals suffer shortages of specialist doctors and support staff.
✅ The private sector ranges from advanced tertiary care hospitals in big cities to informal care providers in villages.
✅During the pandemic, it could not assuredly provide affordable care or deliver vaccines in large parts of India.
✅Many non-COVID-19 patients were denied treatment during the pandemic, as hospitals were crowded.

▪️Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (ABHIM):

✅Alerted by the experience of the first wave of 2020, the government proposed in the Budget greater investment in the health system.
✅The Fifteenth Finance Commission too recommended strengthening of urban and rural primary care as well as creation of critical care capacity at different levels of the health system.
✅The Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (ABHIM) links these elements.
✅It will support infrastructure development of 17,788 rural health and wellness centres (HWCs) in seven high-focus States and three north-eastern States.
✅Areas like hypertension, diabetes and mental health will be covered, in addition to existing services.
✅To enhance the capabilities for microbial surveillance, a National Platform for One Health will be established.

▪️Why is the scheme significant?

✅ India has long been in need of a ubiquitous healthcare system. A study (‘State of Democracy in South Asia (SDSA)–Round 3’) by Lokniti-CSDS in 2019 highlighted how access to public health care remained elusive to those living on the margins.
✅The study found that 70 per cent of the locations have public healthcare services. However, availability was less in rural areas (65 per cent) compared to urban areas (87 per cent).
✅In 45 per cent of the surveyed locations, people could access healthcare services by walking, whereas in 43 per cent of the locations they needed to use transport.
✅4. The survey also found that proximity to healthcare services is higher in urban localities: 64
per cent of the enumerators in urban areas observed that people can access healthcare
services by walking, while only 37 per cent in rural areas can do so.

▪️Training public health professionals :

✅There is a need to train and deploy a larger and better skilled health workforce.
✅Upgraded district hospitals offer the best opportunity for creating new training centres.
✅Public health expertise will be needed for programme design, delivery, implementation and
monitoring in many sectors that impact health.
✅ We must scale up institutional capacity for training public health professionals.

▪️Way Forward :

✅ ABHIM, if financed and implemented efficiently, can strengthen India’s health system by augmenting capacity in several areas.
✅ It can create a framework for coordinated functioning at district, state and national levels.
✅ It can enable data-driven decentralised decision-making and people-partnered primary care at the block level.
✅Many independently functioning programmes must have to work with a common purpose.
✅That calls for a change of bureaucratic mindsets and a shift in Centre-State relations. An active citizen engagement can catalyse both.

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🔆India warning labels on food packets

✅A new study Published in open access journal Nutrients has found that in India warning labels on food packets are most effective in helping consumers identify foods high in sugar, saturated fat and sodium as compared to other labeling formats.

✅The Study : Participants were shown food packets with one of five Front of Package Labelling (FOPLs) —a control label (barcode), nutrient-specific warning label (octagon symbol indicating whether the product was high in salt/sugar or saturated fat), Health Star Rating, guideline for daily amount (GDA that gives nutritional content information) or traffic light label
(indicating red, amber or green levels of nutrients of concern).

✅Objective : The objective of the study was to evaluate the impact of different labels in helping consumers correctly identify packaged products containing excess levels of nutrients of concern such as sugar, saturate fat and sodium.

▪️Findings

✅The study found that relative to a control label, most number of participants were able to identify a nutrient of concern.
✅This was when they were presented a packet with a warning label with 60.8% recognizing harmful nutrients as compared to 55% recognizing them when they were shown a GDA label, and 54.8% when shown a traffic light label. HSR label performed the worst with only 45% being able to recognize the three nutrients of concern.
✅Warning label outperformed other labels even where secondary outcomes were concerned such as perceived message effectiveness, which is predictive of behavioral change. However, the study also found that warning labels failed to statistically significantly reduce intentions to purchase unhealthy packaged products.

✅Need for adopting Warning labels : Food labels provide important information to consumers and assist them in making informed purchase decisions. The labels can include specific nutrient claims as well as detailed nutrient composition data. Also, warning labels can be the most effective Front of Package Labelling (FOPL) to help Indian consumers identify & avoid unhealthy foods.

✅Downside : Warning labels allow companies to prove the negligence was on the part of the consumer. If it can prove that in court, then the
ruling will be against the consumer, and the company wins the case.

▪️Final Thoughts :

✅In a country where there is a demographic transition taking place and there is dominance on non-communicable diseases and multiple morbidities such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, we need to adopt a suitable strategy based on evidence to make consumers aware of nutrients of concern. Hence, there is a need for adopting warning labels.
✅Processed food packets can carry clear and simple warning labels indicating the presence of high salt, sugar and fat. The
labeling can be done in such a way that it will cut across the barrier of multiple languages and easily understood by even those who cannot read.

✅ Issue: Australia and New Zealand had introduced the voluntary HSR system in 2014. But recent studies have shown that their system is highly flawed as unhealthy food products are still able to get a high score as the rating is based on the overall nutritional value, and any inclusion of healthy ingredients like fibre and protein to an otherwise unhealthy product could easily cancel out its unhealthy ingredients (i.e. sugar, saturated fats and salt).

✅Bottomline : The FSSAI should call for a wider consultation before introducing (HSR) system. It should also explore the possibility of making warning labels on food packets compulsory after proper consultation with all the stakeholders.

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🔆 PHEIC

There are four criteria for declaring a public health emergency of international concern. World Health Organization declares a PHEIC if it meets 2 of 4 conditions i.e.

✅ seriousness of the public health impact of the event;
✅ unusual or unexpected nature of the event;
✅ potential for the event to spread internationally; and/or
✅ the risk that restrictions to travel or trade may result because of the event.

▪️Importance of Declaring PHEIC;

✅ Reduces the potential for international disease spread
✅ Reduces the likelihood of unilateral trade and travel restriction by other countries


▪️Who Have Declared Pheics :

✅ H1N1 influenza (2009)
✅ Polio (2014)
✅ Ebola (2014)
✅ Zika virus (2016)
✅ COVID-19 (2019)
✅ Monkeypox (2022)


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🔆Traditional Medicine:

The traditional Indian system of medicine comprises of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy (AYUSH), is a perennially neglected alternative medicine sector.

✅Ayurveda: The word Ayurveda means ‘Science of Life’ and employs treatment modalities, such as purification, palliation, prescription of various diets, exercises and the avoidance of disease causing factors and it evolved nearly 5000 years ago.

✅Yoga & Naturopathy: Practices of Yoga are reported to have originated in India and is now being adapted to correct lifestyle by cultivating a rational, positive and spiritual attitude towards all life situations.
✅ 21st June is designated as ‘International Yoga Day’.
Naturopathy or the naturopathic medicine is a drugless’ non- invasive system of medicine imparting treatments with natural elements based on the theories of vitality, toxemia and the self-healing capacity of the body, as well as the principles of healthy living

✅Unani Medicine: It was originated in the Arab world, though over a period of time it imbibed some concepts from other contemporary systems of medicines in Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Persia, India, China & other Middle East Countries

✅Siddha: Originated in India and is amongst the oldest systems of medicine in the country
🔸It takes into account the patient, his/her surroundings, age, sex, race, habitat, diet, appetite, physical condition etc. to arrive at the diagnosis.
🔸Siddha System uses minerals, metals & alloys & drugs and inorganic compounds to treat the patients

✅Homeopathy: The word ‘Homeopathy’ is derived from the Greek words, ‘Homois’ meaning ‘similar’ & ‘pathos’ means ‘suffering’
🔸It originated in Germany and was introduced in India around 1810-1839
It uses highly individualized remedies selected to address specific symptoms or symptom profiles

✅Sowa-Rigpa: The word combination means the science of healing & is considered one of the oldest living and well-documented medical traditions of the world

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Silicosis
✅Silicosis is a lung disease caused by inhaling fine silica dust, often found in industries such as mining, construction, and stone cutting.
✅It leads to inflammation and scarring of the lungs, making it difficult to breathe.
✅Symptoms can include coughing, shortness of breath, and chest pain, which may develop years after exposure.
✅Chronic Silicosis: Develops after long-term exposure to low levels of silica dust.
✅Accelerated Silicosis: Occurs with higher levels of exposure over a shorter period.
✅Acute Silicosis: Results from extremely high exposures over a brief period, leading to severe lung damage.
✅Silicosis isn’t contagious as it is not caused by a virus or bacteria.
✅There’s no cure for silicosis because the lung damage can’t be reversed.

#health

✅WorldToiletDay, celebrated annually on November 19, is an official United Nations observance aimed at raising global awareness and action to address the urgent sanitation crisis
✅Observed since 2013, this day has been dedicated to emphasizing the importance of safe and accessible toilet facilities as part of Sustainable Development Goal 6: Ensuring water and sanitation for all by 2030

✅This year's theme is ‘Toilets - A Place for Peace’ which emphasizes that billions of people face heightened threats to sanitation due to conflict, climate change, natural disasters, and systemic neglect.

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✅Shatavari (Asparagus racemosus) is a medicinal plant widely used in Ayurveda, the traditional system of Indian medicine. 
✅Characteristics: Shatavari is a climbing plant with stems that can grow up to 4 meters long.
✅It has an adventitious root system with both fibrous and tuberous roots, which can reach about one meter in length and taper at both ends.
✅Distribution: It extends from Africa through southern Asia, including the Indian subcontinent, to northern Australia.
✅Use: The plant is known for its adaptogenic (help to regulate the body’s systems and improve resistance to stress) and rejuvenating properties, especially in women’s health and overall immunity.

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🔆 Key Takeaways: Overnutrition Crisis in Urban India

✅ Growing Crisis:
• Study shows 84% Hyderabad IT employees have fatty liver, 68% MAFLD, and 72% obesity due to excess salt/sugar, sedentary work, and disrupted sleep.

✅ Nutrition Paradox:
• Undernutrition persists while overnutrition rises rapidly; India ranks 2nd globally in overweight and obesity (2021).

✅ Link to NCDs:
• NCDs cause 74% of global deaths (2019), mostly in low/middle-income countries.
• India’s obesity fuels early onset of diabetes, heart, and liver diseases.
• Obesity increases with age and wealth (NFHS-5).

✅ Urban-Rural Disparity:
• Urban adults show higher NCD rates (e.g., Tamil Nadu: 46.1% urban obese vs 31.6% rural).

✅ Childhood Obesity:
• Projected 450 million obese adults by 2050; childhood obesity rose 244% in 20 years, set to rise further.

✅ Government Initiatives:
• FSSAI’s Health Star Rating and front-pack labelling.
• “Eat Right Challenge” and “8-km Health Walk” screened 3.79 million employees.

✅ International Best Practices:
• Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 includes calorie labelling, sugary drink taxes, trans fat elimination, and awareness programs.

✅ Need for Paradigm Shift:
• Regulate ads, label high-risk foods, and boost urban wellness.
• Fight obesity/NCDs with multisectoral, long-term strategies beyond medical care.

#health #nutrition #obesity #NCDs

🔆 India’s Health Indicators

📍 Key Health Statistics
✅ Life Expectancy at Birth ~ 70 years (62 years in 2000, 67 years in 2010)
✅ Infant Mortality Rate = 28/1000
✅ Neonatal Mortality Rate = 20/1000 (SDG target 12)
✅ Under 5 Mortality Rate = 32/1000 (SDG target 25)
✅ Maternal Mortality Rate = 97/1000 (SDG target 70)
✅ Sex Ratio at Birth = 1020/1000 (was 943 in 2011)

📍 Health Expenditure
✅ Health Expenditure = ~ 3.8% of GDP (40% public, 60% private)
✅ Out of Pocket Expenditure (OOP) = 1.5% GDP, 13% monthly per capita
✅ Doctor-Population Ratio = 1:834 (better than WHO’s 1:1000)
✅ Health Workers per 10,000 Population = 49

📍 Health Delivery & Immunization
✅ Institutional Deliveries = 97.18%
✅ Children Aged 9-11 Months Fully Immunised = 93.23%

📍 Health Challenges
✅ Deaths from Non-Communicable Diseases = Over 60% of total deaths in India
✅ TB Burden = Highest in the world (28%) and highest number of Multi-drug resistant TB cases
✅ Tuberculosis Cases Notified = 87.13% against the target

📍 Progress in Tuberculosis (TB) Control
✅ TB Decline = 18% dip in TB cases over the past 10 years, more than double the global rate; 24% reduction in deaths, higher than the global average of 23%

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🔆 Education Stats

📍 Literacy Rates
✅ Overall: 77%, Male: 84%, Female: 70%, Urban: 88%, Rural: 74% (NSO)

📍 Government Spending
✅ Education: 3.5% of GDP (Ministry of Education)

📍 Enrolment Ratios
✅ Primary: 98%, Secondary: 80%, Senior Secondary: 58% (ASER report)

📍 Government Schools
✅ Enrolment: 73% in 2022 (up from 65% in 2018) (ASER report)

📍 Reading Ability
✅ Class 2 Text: 42% of children could read (down from 50% in 2018) (ASER report)

📍 School Infrastructure
✅ 88.65% of schools have electricity & drinking water
✅ 47.50% schools have computers (SDG India Index 2024)

📍 Higher Education
✅ Gross Enrolment: 28% (51% male, 49% female) (AISHE, Ministry of Education)
✅ Public vs Private: 60% public, 40% private universities (AISHE)

📍 Engineering Students
✅ 39 lakh students (29% women) in 2021-22 (AISHE)

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🔆 Arboviral Diseases

📍 About
✅ Arboviruses = arthropod-borne viruses, spread by mosquitoes & ticks.
✅ Common vector: Aedes aegypti, capable of transmitting multiple viruses simultaneously.
✅ Examples: Dengue, Zika, Chikungunya, West Nile, Yellow Fever, Eastern Equine Encephalitis.

📍 Transmission
✅ Mostly through mosquito/tick bites.
✅ Also via blood transfusion, organ transplant, sexual contact, mother-to-child transmission.

📍 Symptoms
✅ Range from mild flu-like illness to severe:
• Fever, diarrhoea, rash, vomiting, body ache.
• Severe: bleeding (dengue, yellow fever), seizures, unconsciousness.
✅ Onset: within few days to 2 weeks of bite.

📍 Global Risk & Impact
✅ 5.6 billion people at risk globally.
✅ Endemic to tropical & subtropical regions, but expanding rapidly due to climate change & global travel.
✅ Co-circulation of multiple arboviruses common → diagnostic challenges.

📍 Prevention
✅ Vector control – remove standing water, use repellents, wear protective clothing.
✅ Structural barriers – intact door/window screens.
✅ Public health – early surveillance, rapid diagnosis, vaccination (where available, e.g., yellow fever, dengue in some regions).

#UPSC #Health #GS3 #Diseases #WHO

🔆 Puducherry Achieves Zero Maternal Mortality

📍 Why in Focus?
✅ Puducherry has become the first Union Territory in India to bring Maternal Mortality (MM) down to zero.

📍 About Maternal Mortality
✅ Defined as the death of a woman during pregnancy or within 42 days of termination, due to pregnancy-related causes.
✅ MMR (Maternal Mortality Ratio): Maternal deaths per 1,00,000 live births.
✅ India’s MMR reduced from 130 (2014–16) to 93 (2019–21) (SRS).
✅ SDG Target 2030: Reduce MMR to 70 per 1,00,000 live births.

📍 Trends & Progress in India
✅ WHO certified elimination of maternal & neonatal tetanus (2015).
✅ 8 states achieved SDG target: Kerala, Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Gujarat, Karnataka.
✅ Institutional births: Rose from 79% (2015–16) → 89% (2019–21); 100% in Kerala, Goa, Lakshadweep, Puducherry & Tamil Nadu.
✅ ANC visits: First trimester checkups improved from 59% → 70%; 4+ ANC visits from 51% → 59%.

✅ Prelims Question:
Which of the following states/UTs achieved 100% institutional delivery?
A. Puducherry, Kerala, Tamil Nadu
B. Goa, Lakshadweep, Puducherry
C. Kerala, Goa, Lakshadweep, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu
D. Gujarat, Maharashtra, Telangana
Ans: C

✅ Mains Question:
“Discuss the progress and challenges in reducing Maternal Mortality in India. How can India achieve the SDG target by 2030?” (150 words)

✨ #Health #Geography

🔆 Health Challenges & Reforms: A Mains Perspective

📍 Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)
✅ Causes: Overuse of antibiotics, poor diagnostics, weak infection control, agriculture misuse, pharma waste, low awareness.
✅ Solutions: NAP-AMR 2017, antimicrobial stewardship, One Health approach, waste management, awareness drives like Red Line Campaign.
✅ Significance: By 2050, AMR may cause 39M deaths globally (2M in India) with $100T economic loss.

📍 Vaccine Development
✅ Principle: Introduce antigens → trigger antibodies & memory cells for rapid immune response.
✅ Types: Inactivated virus (Covaxin), Viral vector (Covishield), Protein subunit (Novavax-type), mRNA (Gemcovac-19).

📍 Technology in Pandemic Management
✅ Digital payments: $5B distributed via DBT.
✅ Contactless tech: Robots & drones for sanitization.
✅ Telemedicine: e-Sanjeevani enabled remote consultations.
✅ Digital Health IDs (ABHA), AI tools, apps used for tracking, surveillance, hotspot detection.
✅ Supply chain mgmt. for vaccines, PPE, oxygen.

📍 Drug Regulation
✅ Issues: Fragmented regulation, poor compliance, dependence on imported APIs, weak infrastructure.
✅ Reforms: Amendment to DCA 1940, stricter penalties, PTUAS scheme, WHO-GMP standards, special courts for speedy trials.

📍 Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs)
✅ Burden: 64% of India’s disease load, ₹280 lakh crore cost by 2030.
✅ Impacts: Reduced life expectancy, high OOP expenses, gender gap (higher in women), link with poverty.
✅ Solutions: Early detection, digital health interventions (US$0.24 per patient → save 2M lives), fiscal policies (tax on tobacco, sugar), multi-sectoral approach.

📍 Traditional Medicine (AYUSH)
✅ Strengths: Chronic disease mgmt., holistic care, affordability, immunity boost, sustainable practices.
✅ Govt Measures: Promotion via AYUSH Ministry, WHO tie-ups, AYUSH wellness centres, One Herb One Standard, Har Ghar Ayush campaign.

📍 Digital Health
✅ Importance: Seamless record-sharing, unique health IDs, chronic disease mgmt., faster treatment, evidence-based policy.
✅ Challenges: Privacy risks, AI bias, digital divide, weak trust, standardisation issues.
✅ Initiatives: ABDM (73+ cr IDs), Ayushman Arogya Mandirs, DHIS, e-Sanjeevani, U-WIN portal, Aarogya Setu.

📍 UPSC Previous Year Questions
1️⃣ What is the basic principle behind vaccine development? How do vaccines work? What approaches were adopted by the Indian vaccine manufacturers to produce COVID-19 vaccines? (2022)
2️⃣ COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented devastation worldwide. However, technological advancements are being availed readily to win over the crisis. Give an account of how technology was sought to aid management of the pandemic. (2020)

📍 Mains Question
“India faces a dual challenge of infectious diseases and rising NCDs, alongside the transformative potential of AYUSH and Digital Health. Critically analyse the role of technology, traditional systems, and regulatory reforms in strengthening India’s healthcare ecosystem.” (250 words)

✨ #Health #Mains

🔆 Key Update: Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Amendment Rules, 2025

📍 Key Provisions
• ✅ The Department of Consumer Affairs has notified the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Amendment Rules, 2025, aligning with Medical Devices Rules, 2017.
• ✅ Clearer Labels: Packages containing medical devices will now follow the same height and letter size requirements for declarations as medical devices.
• ✅ Relaxations under Rule 33 of the existing law will not apply when Medical Devices Rules are applicable.

📍 Impact
• ✅ Consumers: Ensures clear, uniform, and accurate labelling, enhancing protection in the healthcare sector.
• ✅ Industry: Removes ambiguity between regulatory frameworks, simplifying compliance and reducing redundancy.
• ✅ Regulators: Streamlined enforcement and clearer jurisdiction, fostering a business-friendly and transparent regulatory environment.

✅ Main Takeaway: The amendment strengthens consumer confidence and boosts ease of doing business by harmonizing regulations in the healthcare sector.

✅ Mains Question:
• Discuss the implications of the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Amendment Rules, 2025 for consumers, industries, and regulators. How does this harmonization benefit the healthcare sector in India?

#gs3 #health

🔆 Nipah Virus (NiV)

📍 About
✅ Zoonotic viral disease caused by the Nipah Virus Infection.
✅ Caused by Nipah virus, a highly pathogenic paramyxovirus.

📍 Transmission
✅ Animal → Human and Human → Human transmission possible.
✅ Natural reservoir: Fruit bats.
✅ Virus is present in bat urine and may also occur in faeces, saliva and birthing fluids.

📍 Affected Systems
✅ Primarily affects:
➡️ Respiratory system
➡️ Nervous system
➡️ Can cause encephalitis-like symptoms

📍 Treatment & Diagnosis
✅ No vaccine currently available.
✅ No specific curative treatment.
✅ Supportive care is the main treatment.

✅ Diagnosis methods include:
➡️ RT-PCR
➡️ ELISA
➡️ Immunohistochemistry (IHC)
➡️ Serum Neutralisation Test (SNT)

📍 Key Features
✅ Classified as a highly pathogenic paramyxovirus.
✅ Requires Biosafety Level-4 (BSL-4) laboratory facilities.
✅ Listed among the WHO Priority Pathogens.

📍 History
✅ First identified in 1999 in Malaysia and Singapore.

📍 Outbreak Regions
✅ Major outbreaks reported in:
➡️ Malaysia
➡️ Bangladesh
➡️ India, especially in Kerala and recently in West Bengal.

📍 Recent Development
✅ Gennova Biopharmaceuticals is developing a self-amplifying mRNA (saRNA) vaccine against Nipah virus.

#GS3 #Health #science_technology

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🔆 World Hemophilia Day – 17 April

📍 About the Day
✅ World Hemophilia Day is observed every year on 17 April
✅ It is organised by the World Federation of Hemophilia
✅ 2026 marks the 31st anniversary of the observance

📍 Aim of the Day
✅ To spread awareness about haemophilia and improve treatment, care, prevention and bleeding control

📍 What is Haemophilia?
✅ Haemophilia is a rare inherited bleeding disorder
✅ It is caused by deficiency of clotting factors:
✅ Factor VIII → Haemophilia A
✅ Factor IX → Haemophilia B

✅ Due to this deficiency, blood does not clot properly, leading to prolonged or excessive bleeding.

📍 Why Is It More Common in Males?
✅ Haemophilia is an X-chromosome linked disorder
✅ Males have only one X chromosome, so a defective gene directly causes the disease
✅ Females usually become carriers, though in rare cases they may also be affected

📍 Inheritance Pattern
✅ If the mother is a carrier:
✅ Sons have a 50% chance of being affected
✅ Daughters have a 50% chance of becoming carriers

📍 Global Facts
✅ Around 4 lakh people worldwide were estimated to have haemophilia in 2000, but only about 25% received treatment
✅ Around 11.25 lakh men were affected globally in 2019
✅ Only about 15% of patients worldwide have access to proper treatment

📍 History
✅ In 1803, John Conrad Otto first identified the hereditary nature of haemophilia
✅ In 1937, haemophilia was classified into Haemophilia A and B
✅ World Hemophilia Day was first observed in 1989
✅ The day is dedicated to Frank Schnabel

🔆 Conclusion
✅ Despite advances in treatment, access remains limited for many patients.
✅ Greater awareness, affordable treatment and government support are essential to ensure a better quality of life for people with haemophilia.

🔆 Mains Question
“Rare diseases often remain neglected in public health policy.” Discuss with reference to haemophilia and the need for greater awareness and treatment access.

#GS2 #Health