Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
coastline of 7,517 kilometers and is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south,
the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal on the east. India com-
prises 28 states and seven Union Territories and is bordered by Pakistan to the
west; People's Republic of China (PRC), Nepal, and Bhutan to the north; and
Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. The economic reforms since 1991 have
transformed it into one of the fastest-growing economies; however, it still suf-
fers from high levels of poverty, illiteracy, and malnutrition. The World Bank
has suggested that the most important priorities for India are public sector
reform, infrastructure, agricultural, and rural development and HIV/AIDS.
13.3.1 Health Department Organizational Structure
The state of Tamil Nadu has an area of 130,058 sq. km. and a population
of 62.41 million. There are 30 districts, 385 blocks, and 16,317 villages. The
state has population density of 479 per sq. km. (the national average is 312).
The population of the state continues to grow at a much faster rate (11.72%
in the last decade) than the national rate (21.54%; Ministry of Statistics and
Implementation Programme 2005).
The National Surveillance Program for Communicable Diseases was initiated
in 1998 as a pilot project under the National Institute for Communicable
Diseases,* which is the body that supervises the districts and analyzes
the data for outbreaks in India. The National Institute for Communicable
Diseases was established in 1963 to expand and reorganize the activities of
the Malaria Institute of India (MII), which has remained in existence (now
under a different name) since its inception in 1909. The reorganized institute
was established to develop a national center for teaching and research in
various disciplines of epidemiology and control of communicable diseases.
The institute was envisaged to act as a center par excellence for providing
multidisciplinary and integrated expertise in the control of communicable
diseases. The institute was also entrusted with the task of developing reliable
rapid economic epidemiologic tools that could be effectively applied in the
field for the control of communicable diseases. The experience from the pilot
is subsequently being expanded to build the Integrated Disease Surveillance
Program for India. Figure 13.3 depicts the organizational structure of India's
government health care officials.
The National Surveillance Program for Communicable Diseases has been
launched to strengthen the disease surveillance system so that early warning
signals are recognized and appropriate timely follow-up action is initiated.
The main objective of the program is capacity building at district and state
levels. “The World Health Organization is in the process of computerizing the
surveillance system in the states of Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. Computers
have been provided to the districts and the relevant staff trained in computer
* A full description of the NIDC objectives are discussed at http://nicd.org/NICDObjectives.
asp.
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