A Case for Urban Health and Climate Observatory within Urban Health System in India

India in the last decade grew at an average annual growth rate of two percent, urban India at three percent, mega cities at four percent, and the slum population at five to six percent (2-3-4-5 syndrome ) (1). Urban Health is... [ view full abstract ]

India in the last decade grew at an average annual growth rate of two percent, urban India at three percent, mega cities at four percent, and the slum population at five to six percent (2-3-4-5 syndrome ) (1). Urban Health is a new arena in India. Complex interactions between location, demography, socioeconomic profile, urban services, climate, disasters, funds and governance influence urban health. Health management information system is the backbone of urban health system and accessibility, information technology, medical and academic institutions within jurisdiction favour better system.

This explorative study of health surveillance in urban India is based on multi stakeholder workshops, interviews, system study of Municipal Corporations of Gujarat state and case studies.

Some public health crisis in urban India in last two decade are Post flood Plague (Surat) and Leptospirosis (Surat, Mumbai), health crisis and air quality (Delhi, Kolkata), deaths due to heat waves (Ahmedabad, Delhi), Dengue outbreaks (Delhi), H1N1 (Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Surat). Late action due to delayed early warning was almost common in all.

Action points are strengthening health information management system, integrating it with sanitation and climate information, evidence based intervention and capacity building of urban practitioners. Integration of multiple data source, transformation of surveillance statistics in to health management information, technology enabled surveillance for real time quality data.

Exclusive technical intelligence cell for health, sanitation and climate information management is missing link within urban health system in making. There is a strong case for Urban Health and Climate Observatory under National health mission, India. WHO centre for health development has also identified Urban Health Observatory as a good practice which can provide urban policy makers with much needed health intelligence (3).

Keywords: Observatory Urban Health Surat-India