For representational purposes
BERHAMPUR: The free community health screening programme, ‘Arogyam’ which was introduced by the Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) in November last year, has found that obesity is the most prevalent disease among the economically weaker sections residing in the area. Of the 40,742 people tested, around 14,808 are reportedly obese.
Sources said, specially trained volunteers had during that time conducted health screening of over 174 slums in all the 42 wards under the BeMC. The data collected was meant to help map the disease-prone and disease burden areas as part of the Integrated Health Surveillance.
Speaking on the analysis, National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) officer Lambodar Digal informed that of the 17,749 houses present in all 42 wards of the area, screening of around 15,000 households is complete till March 20.
BeMC commissioner J Sonal said the Arogyam programme was implemented at a cost of around `76.53 lakh. If the findings are satisfactory, the facility will be further extended to non-slum areas under the BeMC, she added.
Contacted, Ganjam collector Dibyajyoti Parida said, “Apart from detecting the diseases prevalent in the area, the Arogyam facility will also promote awareness about both non-communicable diseases (NCD) and communicable diseases (CD) with a specific strategy among the slum population who are not covered by advanced testing under the public health programme.
