India among top 5 nations with highest number of people needing rehabilitation

New Delhi: While the covid-19 pandemic has pushed several people in need of rehabilitation services after they contracted the highly infectious disease and otherwise, a World Health Organization (WHO) study published in The Lancet journal highlighted that India is among the five countries with greatest number of people needing rehabilitation services.

The study findings released by the WHO has said that China (460 million), India (411 million), the US (149 million), Indonesia (76 million) and Brazil (70 million) are the top five countries in terms of greatest number of people in need of rehabilitation services. The paper Global Estimates Of The Need For Rehabilitation Based On The Global Burden Of Disease Study 2019, provides the first-ever global and regional figures on the number of people in need of rehabilitation.

According to the global study, jointly developed by WHO and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), one third of the world’s population are living with a health condition that benefit from rehabilitation. The need has increased 63% since 1990, rising from 1.48 billion to 2.41 billion people.

Lowe back pain is associated with the highest need for rehabilitation in 160 of 204 countries, including the US (52 million people) and the UK (9 million people). In India, the greatest need is for fractures (90 million people), and in China, it is hearing loss (95 million). Lower back pain (568 million people), hearing loss (403 million people), and bone fractures (436 million people) accounted for the greatest need for rehabilitation therapies, the study said.

The need for rehabilitation services, such as physical and occupational therapy or speech and language therapy, has increased 63% since 1990, from 1.48 billion to 2.41 billion people who could benefit at least once in the course of their illness or injury. The rise in need is mostly a result of growing and aging populations, but some conditions, such as short-sightedness in children, have increased in prevalence, the study highlighted.

The global estimates establish rehabilitation as a key strategy for universal health coverage in the 21st century and challenge the common view of rehabilitation being an optional service that is only needed by a minority of the population. The findings indicate the urgent need to scale up rehabilitation, particularly at primary health care level, to ensure services reach those who need them. The study provides a strong case for policymakers to prioritize rehabilitation to address the functioning needs of their population.

“People living with the long-term consequences of covid-19 have spoken to me again and again about their need for rehabilitation services, along with the need for recognition, and further research,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO. “Those requiring rehabilitation services may include survivors of both infectious and noncommunicable disease, accidents, conflicts, and so many other health problems that arise over the course of one’s life. Rehabilitation services must be part of essential packages of care as part of every country’s journey towards universal health coverage,” he said.

The study is based on data from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries and Risk Factors Study (GBD) from 1990 to 2019 (the latest year for which data is available), which estimates the incidence and prevalence of more than 300 diseases and injuries. It also estimates the disabling consequences of those conditions in all countries, including the years lived with disability for each illness (YLD, i.e., time spent in less than optimal health), calculated by multiplying the prevalence of a health condition by the short- or long-term loss of health associated with that condition.

The researchers analyzed data for all 204 countries and territories in the GBD study. They also pooled the data from individual countries into seven regions of the world: World Bank high income countries and all six of the WHO regions, excluding the high-income countries from each region.