AIMS Medical Science (Mar 2017)
Therapy through Social Medicine: Cultivating Connections and Inspiring Solutions for Healthy Living
Abstract
Objective: This paper is to identify key areas where healthy living may be improved in India, and the converse, through cultivating connections at government, community, and at individual levels. Methods and Materials: Key healthy living issues for India were selected and relevant evidence obtained from internet sources together with personal experience over decades of multi- and inter-disciplinary international research activities. Approach: Key activities of connectivity in the development of Indian healthcare arising from “Methods and Materials” were evaluated. These included, the UN Millennium Development Goals, government-private interaction for healthcare benefit, family planning, Modicare 2015, women in society, business and clinical strategies, infrastructure, building “families”, fish stocks preservation, ecological epidemiology, NCDs, and transgenesis. Results: In a nutritional context, “education for all” leading to connectivity and a pragmatic inspirational approach to understanding complex issues of population dynamics is essential. Of importance are scientific endeavours in agriculture and aquaculture, water utilization, food manufacture, complex issues of supply and demand at an economic eco-friendly and sustainable level, chemoprevention and treatment of diseases (where nutritionally applicable) such as with functional foods: all of which are so vital if one is to raise standards for healthy living in this century and beyond. Developing-India could be a test-bed for other countries to follow, having both the problems and professional understanding of issues raised. By 2025, the UK’s Department for International Development programme in India aims to promote secondary school education for young girls, i.e., extending the age of marriage, and interventions that will lead to better health and nutrition, family planning, and developing skills for employment; and supporting India’s “Right to Education Act”. The outcome may result in smaller better-nourished higher-income families. Computer school networks at Nosegay Public School in Moradabad and the municipal authorities, there, aim to reduce the consumption of unhealthy foodstuff dictated by personal convenience, media influence, and urban retail outlets and promotions. The Tsim Tsoum Institute has advocated the adoption of the Mediterranean/Palaeolithic diet with its high omega-3: omega-6 fatty acid ratio aimed at an improvement in global health due to an expected reduction in the epidemic of pre-metabolic disease, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease [1,2]. Tomorrow, low-cost computer apps are advocated as a driving force in the selection of healthy foods, grown/produced under environmentally safe conditions, within retail outlets for use by mothers with limited budgets that may lead to a revolution in retail management and policy. Chemo-preventive prospective strategies such as those involving polyphenols, lignans, (found in fruits, vegetables, and soya) and other natural phytochemical products, and functional foods, which balance benefit and risk of disease, need to be continually developed, especially to reduce breast and prostate cancer. Conclusion: There is an opportunity to make nutrition a central part of the post-2015 sustainable human and agricultural development agenda for the The Expert Panel for the UN 2030 programme to consider. Solutions for cultivating connections and inspiring solutions for healthy living in India have included all the above issues and this swathe of actions, some within the Nagoya protocol, has been presented for the purpose of contributing towards the health of India.
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