Health min targets reduction in use of solid fuels for cooking

Health Ministry has added reduction in the usage of solid fuels in kitchens as one of the key targets to its national framework for control of non-communicable diseases.
The national monitoring framework for control and prevention of non communicable diseases aims at tracking the progress in controlling of major NCDs like cardio-vascular diseases, cancer, chronic lung diseases and diabetes.
The recent addition to the framework stresses on 50 per cent reduction in the usage of solid fuels such as dung, wood, agricultural residues and coal in households by 2025 in order to achieve the millennium development goals.
This is the tenth target added in the framework along with the nine goals which had been decided by the Health Ministry this year under the guidance of World Health Organization.

The other targets include 25 per cent relative reduction in overall mortality from cardiovascular diseases, cancer diabetes or chronic respiratory diseases, at least 10 per cent reduction in the harmful use of alcohol, 30 per cent reduction in prevalence of current tobacco use in persons aged over 15 years and halt in rise of diabetes and obesity.
Besides, Health Ministry has also added five indicators in the framework including monitoring of vaccination coverage against Hepatitis B virus, screening of women aged-30 and above for breast cancer and screening of persons consuming tobacco, smoking and betel nut for oral cancer.
As occurrences of non-communicable diseases are on the rise in India, the Health Ministry is carrying out a national survey to screen all persons above the age of 30 years to find out the actual incidence of NCDs, cancer and diabetes.

A total of 2.25 crore people across the country have been screened so far under the survey for diabetes and high blood pressure and around seven per cent of those screened have been found to be suffering from these diseases.