COVID 19 and rural India: better now than later

Authors

  • Gitismita Naik Department of Community and Family Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Raipur, Chhattisgarh
  • M. Mohan Kumar Department of Community and Family Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Raipur, Chhattisgarh

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20202512

Keywords:

COVID 19, Primary health centers, DCHC

Abstract

COVID 19 is devastating lives worldwide and India is no exception. Government of India on 15th April classified districts as hotspots or red zones (123 districts with large outbreaks and 47 with clusters) and non-hotspots or orange zones (207 districts). This leaves more than 300 of the country’s 731 districts which are not yet affected by the pandemic, classified as non-infected districts or green zones. Of India’s 1.21 billion people, about 376 million people live in the districts now classified as green zones and while 68.8% of India’s population lives in rural areas (Census 2011), the share of rural population in the green zones is relatively higher at 84%. This stands true across big states, Kerala being the only exception. It is this proportion of population who has to be protected in the battle against COVID 19 to ultimately emerge victorious and limit any further spread.

References

Letter to States regarding classification and containment of hotspots. MoHFW. Available at: https://ndma.gov.in/images/covid/MoHFW-Letter-States-reg-containment-of-Hotspots.pdf. Accessed on 14 May 2020.

Chokshi M, Patil B, Khanna R, Neogi SB, Sharma J, Paul VK, et al. Health systems in India. J Perinatol. 2016;36(S3):S9-12.

Roberton T, Carter ED, Chou VB, Stegmuller A, Jackson BD, Tam Y, et al. Early Estimates of the Indirect Effects of the Coronavirus Pandemic on Maternal and Child Mortality in Low- and Middle-Income Countries. Rochester, NY: Social Science Research Network; 2020: 3576549.

Enabling Delivery of Essential Health Services during the COVID 19 Outbreak: Guidance note. MoHFW. Available at: https://www.mohfw.gov.in/ pdf/EssentialservicesduringCOVID19updated0411201.pdf. Accessed on 14 May 2020.

Home. Integrated disease surveillance programme (IDSP). Available at: https://idsp.nic.in/. Accessed on 14 May 2020.

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Published

2020-05-27

How to Cite

Naik, G., & Kumar, M. M. (2020). COVID 19 and rural India: better now than later. International Journal Of Community Medicine And Public Health, 7(6), 2433–2434. https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20202512

Issue

Section

Letter to the Editor